LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



000174310^2 



/ 




f'rom (he painliif^ in possession of the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania. 



William Penn 



Fou?2der of Ve?insylvania 



BY 



JOHN W. GRAHAM, M.A. 

Author of " The Destruction of Daylight " " Evolution and Empire,' 
" IVar from a Quaker Toint of FiervJ* 



ILLUSTRATED 



NEW YORK 
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 



f / . ' -/ 



Gift 
Publishe'- 



Preface 

For many years there has been no life of William Penn in 
print ; nor has a " Life " in the usual sense, ever been 
written by an English Friend. 

It is true that the basis of all the biographies is the 
" Account of the Author's Life," by Joseph Besse, pre- 
fixed in 1726 to his edition of Penn's Collected Works, 
issued in two folio volumes. That invaluable record is, 
however, of the nature of annals, memoranda which 
are material for a history, rather than a history itself. 
It has all the value of a contemporary M S., for Besse 
says it was chiefly extracted out of Penn's own private 
memoirs. 

Of the same character is the " History of 
Pennsylvania " published in 1797 in two volumes by 
Robert Proud, the master of the Friends' School in 
Philadelphia. He had access to careful records made by 
order of the Yearly Meeting, preserved in the possession 
of leading Friends, and kept up to date. So that his also 
may be regarded as of the value of a contemporary record. 

The people of Pennsylvania have always had a wise 
regard for the importance of their unique history, and in 
consequence materials abound. The Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania has published many volumes of Proceedings, 
beginning in 1826 and still continuing. Vol. III., part 
2, is full of Penn material, and Vols. IX., X. are the 
Penn-Logan correspondence, of which a copy is at Devon- 
shire House. 

In modern times we owe the best work in the 
colonial part of the history to Isaac Sharpless, President 
of Haverford College, and to my late friend, Howard M. 



6 PREFACE 

Jenkins, editor of the Friends' Intelligencer. Isaac 
Sharpless's work is in his "A Quaker Experiment in 
Government" in his "Quakers in the Revolution"; 
and in his chapters on Pennsylvania in " Quakers in the 
American Colonies," a book written in collaboration with 
Rufus M. Jones and Amelia M. Gummere. Howard M. 
Jenkins' s work is in his ' ' Memorial History of Philadelphia,' ' 
in chapters I. -VIII. of the great work he projected and 
edited till his death, " Colonial and Federal History of 
Pennsylvania " ; and in his monograph on " The Family 
of WilUam Penn." All these books have been of great 
use to me. 

" Memoirs of the Private and Public Life of William 
Penn," by Thomas Clarkson, M.A., 2 vols., 1813, was the 
first real biography attempted. The attractive author 
of " The Portraiture of Quakerism " felt that the Society 
whose philanthropic work he aided and whose Christian 
manner of life he admired from the outside, was a self- 
centred, retired and practically unknown body, with no 
spokesmen to the world ; and that in the dearth of Quaker 
scholars and writers, even their most famous leader was 
little known either to themselves, or outside their select 
circle. Posterity is greatly indebted to him for his work ; 
but its usefulness has long been over ; his style is 
monotonous and pious and not now easily read, his 
knowledge was very imperfect, compared with what is 
now known, and, as a good eighteenth century Evangelical, 
he did not really understand early Quakerism. 

In the middle of the nineteenth century a sudden 
interest in William Penn developed. Macaulay, in his rooms 
at the Albany, Piccadilly, was trying to destroy Penn's 
reputation — W. Hepworth Dixon, editor of ihe Atheno'um, 
stimulated by Macaulay' s attack, was writing near 
Regent's Park his brilliant and interesting book, " William. 
Penn, an Historical Biography " ; and contem- 
poraneously, at Springdale, in far away Virginia, Samuel 
M. Janney, who kept a school for the daughters of 



PREFACE 7 

Friends, and was the leading minister at the neighbouring 
Goose Creek Meeting House of the " Hicksite " Friends, 
was devoting himself, as a labour of love, to his " Life 
of William Penn." I have slept in the room where he 
wrote it, in the house among the tall trees which his 
daughter and her husband and children still occupy, and 
contrasted the peace and sunshine of the grassy campus, 
where the girls played and Friends' horses were tethered, 
with the "labour house vast" of literary thought and 
ancient libraries, the London where Hepworth Dixon 
wrote. Both writers published in 185 1, Dixon first : 
and they must have been an unwelcome surprise to one 
another. But they are, in fact, supplementary. If you 
want to be interested, and to enjoy the work of an excellent 
literary craftsman, read Hepworth Dixon. If you want 
to know exactly and fully what happened, turn to Janney, 
whose book is therefore of greater value to his successors. 
He incorporates great masses of letters by Penn, Logan 
and others, which Dixon would think dull. All such 
documents in this book I have taken from Janney. Both 
books, however, represent real historical research, and 
remain useful Lives of Penn. But only second-hand copies 
are obtainable, 

Dixon ignores Penn's writings, which I expect he 
could not read nor really enjoy. He writes of Penn the 
statesman, hardly at all of the Quaker, and he fills out the 
records with picturesque imagination. Janney writes 
with Quaker plainness and caution, in a very simple 
narrative style, devoid of art. His book has unfortunately 
never been much read in England. But, as a Friend and 
a minister, he had William Penn in his soul. 

In 1867, Maria Webb brought out her charming book, 
" The Penns and Peningtons of the Seventeenth Century " 
on which many of us were brought up. It contains new 
matter on the domestic side, and includes in a short 
volume the families of Springett, Penn, Penington and 
EUwood. It is a woman's book and no worse for that. 



8 PREFACE 

In 1872, Hepworth Dixon issued a more popular 
version of his book, called " A History of William Penn," 
much shortened and without references. 

In 1882 Dr. Stoughton compiled a Life of William 
Penn for Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton, in connection with 
the Bicentenary of Pennsylvania. 

Perhaps I may venture to add that my own interest 
in the subject began when, in 1882, on the day of the 200th 
anniversary of William Penn's landing in America, I 
contributed a youthful paper on " Pennsylvania as a 
Political Experiment " to the Political Society at King's 
College, Cambridge, afterwards published in two parts 
in the Friends' Quarterly Examiner, 1883 and 1884. It 
was based chiefly on Proud and Dixon and Pennsylvania 
Historical Society Proceedings. I am glad now to have 
the opportuniy cf completing a long cherished design. 
No original investigation into M.S. sources has gone to the 
making of this volume. For the purpose of a book of this 
size these have already been well worked over. Nor would 
any one undertake such a task at the moment, knowing that 
Albert Cook Myers is at Devonshire House and elsewhere 
collecting in enormous trunks every scrap of matter written 
by or about Penn, to be published in the fulness of time in 
some fifteen or twenty monumental volumes under the 
patronage of an influential committee in Philadelphia. 
Other writers must await his results with due modesty 
and fear. 

In this volume I have given greater space to the 
enormous volume of William Penn's writings than has 
been given before, and I have tried to bring out his 
personal characteristics, so that he may be no longer 
regarded as just one of the mythological heroes of 
Quakerism, but as a living and striving man. 

J W. G 
Dalton Hall, Manchester. 
October, 1916. 



Contents 



I. 
II. 
III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 
X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 



PARENTAGE - - - "13 

YOUTH - - - - - 19 

A QUAKER - - - - - 32 

THE TOWER OF LONDON - - - 39 

THE RIGHTS OF JURIES, 167O - " 5^ 

BEREAVEMENT AND COURTSHIP - * 5^ 

NEWGATE - - - - - 71 
A QUAKER APOSTLE IN CONTROVERSY, 

1672-75 - - - - 78 
NEW JERSEY - - - "99 
HOLLAND AND GERMANY, 1677 - " I07 
HIGH POLITICS, 1678-80 _ - - 115 
CHARTER OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1680-I - I27 
THE COLONISTS AND THE FRAME OF GOVERN- 
MENT, 1681-2 - - - - 133 
IN PENNSYLVANIA, 1682-4 - ^54 
COURTIER, 1684-8 _ - - - 167 
HUNTED AND HIDDEN, 1689-93 - - 186 
AUTHORSHIP IN SOLITUDE, 169I-93 - I98 
PENNSYLVANIA, 1684-1699 - - - 213 
THE BATTLE OF LIFE, 1693-1699 - " 228 
IN PENNSYLVANIA AGAIN, 1699-I7OI - 249 
FURTHER HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA - 266 
THE FORDS _ - - - 29I 
LAST DAYS - - - - 296 
NOTE ON MACAULAY'S CHARGES - - 3^9 
BIBLIOGRAPHY - - - - 314 
CHRONOLOGY _ _ - - 318 
INDEX ----- 323 
NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS - ' 329 



Illustrations 



PORTRAIT OF PENN IN ARMOUR - - Frontispiece 

GRAMMAR SCHOOL, CHIGWELL - - - I9 
ADMIRAL PENN - - - - "33 

GATEWAY OF NEWGATE 1666 - - - 48 
TABLET COMMEMORATING THE TRIAL IN THE SESSIONS 

HOUSE, LONDON - - - "50 

FACSIMILE OF ORIGINAL TITLE-PAGE OF PENN 

AND MEAD TRIAL - - - " 5^ 

GULIELMA MARIA PENN - - - - 64 

INTERIOR OF KING JOHN FARM, CHORLEY WOOD 76 

COPY OF WILLIAM PENN'S MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE JJ 

BASING HOUSE, RICKMANSWORTH - - - 81 
JORDANS MEETING HOUSE - - - "95 

MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA _ - - - 128 

CITY OF PHILADELPHIA IN I718 - - - 156 

PENN'S treaty WITH THE INDIANS - - 160 

INDIAN VERSION OF PENN'S TREATY - - 161 

FRIENDS' MEETING HOUSE, FOURTH STREET - IQI 
FACSIMILE LETTER OF WILLIAM PENN GIVING 

ACCOUNT OF DEATH OF GEORGE FOX - - I92 

PENN'S cottage, PHILADELPHIA - - - 224 

PORTRAIT OF HANNAH PENN - - - 238 

PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM PENN IN MIDDLE LIFE - 24I 

JAMES LOGAN ----- 256 

INDIAN WALK MONUMENT OF I737 - - 288 

THE BEVAN MEDALLION OF WILLIAM PENN - 296 

JORDANS BURIAL GROUND - . - 304 



CHAPTER 1. 

Parentage 

WiLiiAM Penn's immediate ancestors were seafaring 
adventurers of some distinction, and his more remote 
forerunners were English squires. In the southern part 
of the county of Bucks, till lately secluded in its lovely 
woods at a safe distance from all railways, but now being 
reached by the longest suburban tentacles of London, 
planting red-tiled villas here and there wh^re the Great 
Central and Metropolitan Railways run — in this beautiful 
district, bounded by the Thames, is a parish called Penn. 
And here the Penns of Penn lived in former days for many 
generations. Howard M. Jenkins, in his invaluable 
book on " The Family of William Penn," gives strong 
reasons for believing that all the Penns originally came 
from Wales. 

A branch of this family occupied a smaller estate, 
with residences at Penn's Lodge and Minety in the 
north of Wiltshire. William Penn's grandfather's grand- 
father, also a William, was the last of these, and at his 
death, in 1592, the estate was sold. This man's 
grandson, our hero's grandfather, Giles by name, started 
life afresh as a sea captain and trader at Bristol. His 
most frequent voyages were to the towns held by the 
Barbary pirates in northern Africa, and he developed 
trade connections with them. It was a dangerous 
business, for the Spaniards had a paper blockade against 
the Barbary ports. Finding that there were some 
hundreds of English men and women kept as captives 



14 WILLIAM PENN 

in the pirate stronghold of Sallee, he interested himself in 
trying to have them liberated, and Sallee reduced to 
order and to submission to the Emperor of Morocco 
from when it had revolted. He was already known to 
King Charles I., having brought him Tetuan hawks and 
Barbary horses, and on his advice and with his guidance a 
British fleet under Admiral Rainsborough set out to 
clear out the pirates and liberate the captives. They 
succeeded, and on the prayer of the London merchants, 
Captain Penn was sent out in 1637 as British Consul to 
Sallee, now under the authority of Muley Mohammed, 
Emperor of Morocco. 

The trading business and the ship were taken over 
by his son William, the future Admiral, at the early age 
of seventeen. When he was twenty-one, he received a 
Commission in the Royal Navy. Next year he was 
married to Margaret, daughter of John Jasper, a 
Rotterdam merchant. 

The absence of knowledge about William Penn's 
mother is unfortunate for his biographer. One wonders 
whether there is anything in his heredity on his mother's 
side, to account for him. Among the Penns he seems a 
kind of isolated sport. Neither among his fore-elders 
nor among his descendants do we know of anyone 
resembling him, except that his father had great ability 
and some religious perception, and his son Springett 
promised to be a sympathetic soul. Since all the bio- 
graphers wrote there has been unearthed information 
which makes out Margaret Jasper more likely to be 
Anglo-Irish than Dutch,* The name is English, and no 
record of such a name has rewarded some search into 
Rotterdam records. The new information states that 
John Jasper and his wife Marie (a name which sounds 
foreign) and family lived at Ballycase, Co. Clare, before 
1641. Also before that date his daughter Margaret was 

* Albert Cook Myers, in Journal of Friends' Historical Society, 1908 
(Vol. v., p. 118), 



PARENTAGE 15 

married to Nicasius Van der Scure or Van der Schu-ren of 
Kilconry, Co. Clare, by the rites of the Anglican church. 
This is from the register of Attestations of the Dutch 
Reformed Church of Austin Friars, London. This fact, 
and his name, would point to the husband being a Dutch- 
man. He died very soon, and as Margaret Van der 
Schuren, his young widow was married to Captain Wm. 
Penn at S. Martin's Church, Ludgate, London, on 
January 6th, 1643, old style, or 1644 new style. A. C. 
Myers has it June 6th, 1643 — but as Pepys attended a 
wedding-day dinner at Admiral Penn's on January 6th, 
1661-2, where there were eighteen mince pies to notify 
eighteen years of married life, we must I think accept that 
date. These scattered hints would fit most easily into a 
suggestion that the Rotterdam merchant was Anglo-Irish 
or English by race, and that her name was the only Dutch 
feature about the bride. If Lady Penn was brought up in 
the west of Ireland, it is not unnatural that her husband 
should obtain an Irish sequestrated estate from Cromwell, 
rather than one in England, of which there were many. 
Pepys, who may not have been well-informed, calls her 
Dutch. In his diary we read under August 19th, 1664 : 

" To Sir W. Pen's, to see his lady for the first time, who is a 
well looked, fat, short old Dutchwoman, but one that has been 
heretofore pretty handsome, and is now very discreet, and I 
believe hath more wit than her husband. Here we stayed talking 
a good while, and very well pleased I was with the old woman." 

This is high praise from the spiteful Pepys. The 
curious thing is that Pepys should never have seen the 
wife of his neighbour and colleague, with whom he was 
very intimate, between 1660 and 1664, particularly at the 
wedding-day dinner. It is clear that our information is 
very incomplete about one of whom we should like to 
have full knowledge. 

William, their eldest child, the subject of this book, 
was born on October 14th, 1644. 



i6 WILLIAM PENN 

The young naval captain was living on or close to 
Tower Hill, conveniently near the river, and his boy 
was baptized in the church of All Hallows, Barking. 
Captain Penn showed conspicuous ability. His promotion 
was rapid and deserved. 

We know that his mother was tender and helpful 
to her Quaker son, even through his early troubles with 
his father. In the Restoration period, at any rate, she 
was a gay woman of fashion, and did the usual riotous 
entertaining at their house in Navy Gardens. Pepys 
records that during the Dutch War in 1665, when Admiral 
Penn was away with the fleet : 

" Going to my Lady Ballen, there found a great many women 
with her in her chamber, merry ; my Lady Penn and her daughter 
among others, when my Lady Penn flung me down on the bed, 
[he was a little man], and herself and others, one after another, 
upon me, and very merry we were." 

They were evidently short of men's society in those days 
of war. Pepys again, the next year: 

" Supped at home and very merry, and about nine to Mrs. 
Mercer's gate . . . and there mighty merry ; My Lady 
Penn and Peg going thither with us, and Nan Wright, till about 
twelve at night, flinging our fireworks and burning one another, 
and the people over the way ; and at last, our business being much 
spent, we went into Mrs. Mercer's and there mighty merry, 
smutting one another with candle grease and soot, till most of us 
were like devils." 

Then to Pepys' s lodgings in the Navy Office, where they 
drank more and began to dance. Pepys and two more 
men put on women's clothes. They dressed the maid- 
servant like a boy and got her to dance a jig. 

" Nan Wright, my wife and Peg Penn put on periwigs ; 
thus we spent till three or four in the morning ; mighty merry 
and then parted and to bed." 

It is the more baffling not to know more of another side 
of Pena's mother, seeing that this is what Pepys can give us, 



PARENTAGE 17 

Captain Penn's naval duty for some years was to 
cruise about St. George's Channel between Milford Haven 
and the Cove of Cork. He became Rear Admiral almost 
immediately, Vice-Admiral of England next, acting 
about the Straits of Gibraltar, and General (a term then 
used in one or two cases for a commander on the sea as 
well as on land) in the first Dutch war at thirty-two. 
His chief exploit is in all English histories. He was 
placed in command of dne of the two fleets which 
Cromwell sent against the Spanish dominions in 1655. 
Blake was to operate in European waters and Penn in 
the West Indies, where, if possible, he was to take San 
Domingo first, and some place on the mainland afterwards. 
The expedition failed. Venables, the general on land, 
was defeated in his attack on San Domingo ; but, in 
order to have something to show, Penn captured Jamaica 
on his way home without orders, and so began the 
British West Indian Empire. Both generals were stripped 
of their offices and sent to the Tower by Oliver. 

The fact was that both were traitors to his government. 
Penn had written to Prince Charles in exile offering him 
the support of his army and fleet when required, and 
Oliver's spies kept him informed of the correspondence. 
Admiral Penn was a professional sailor and care- 
less of politics. He was willing to serve the party in 
power. He had already changed his allegiance from 
King to ParHament and to Protector. He was now 
paving the way for a return to Royalism, when Royalty 
returned, and he duly became Sir William Penn at the 
Restoration. It was not a very noble line to take, in fact 
it might be described much more severely ; but it was 
a line fairly common among the " average sensual men " 
of that time. He spent five weeks in the Tower and was 
then released on condition that he lost his commission as 
General, and left London to reside on the Irish lands 
which the Protector had given him, the town, castle and 
manor of Macroom in County Cork, formerly the pro- 



i8 WILLIAM PENN 

perty of the Royalist Lord Muskerry. Here he spent 
time and money in planting and improving his estate, 
and in buying further land, raising its value, in the three 
years he had it, to £858 a year. He was one of the many 
who owed much to the Protector's persistent clemency. 
On the fall of Richard Cromwell, he sailed to Holland and 
offered his services to Charles. 

He was made a Commissioner for the Navy, and 
entered Parliament as member for Weymouth. But he 
had to restore the Macroom estate to its original owner. 
To make up to him for this, he was made Governor of 
Kinsale, and out of the Puritan property confiscated, 
Shangarry Castle and estate in County Cork were 
handed over to him. His rank as Admiral was restored; 
and the family embarked on the gay and extravagant 
career proper to Charles's friends. 

Shangarry is on the Atlantic, bounded on the west 
by Cork Harbour, and on the east side towards Youghal 
by an inlet of the sea, so that it is a peninsula, with sea 
breezes bracing the soft climate of those parts. The 
estate is four miles long by two broad. Its coast line is 
visible to the passengers steaming by from America. It 
remained the chief source of William Penn's income 
during his lifetime. It is still nine miles from a 
railway ; Midleton is the nearest station, on the line 
between Cork and Youghal. The castle is now a formless 
heap of ruin ; and the estate is divided into two parts, 
one owned by the Penn-Gaskells, who are descendants of 
Admiral Penn, and the other by the descendants of a 
man named Durdin, who was for sixty days the husband 
of the widow of William Penn's grandson. This division 
was the upshot of a long Chancery case. 



CHAPTER II 

Youth 

Two other children, Margaret and Richard, were born to 
Admiral Penn and his wife. When the children were still 
very young, they moved into the country to Wanstead in 
Essex, and lived there during the successful period of the 
Admiral's career under the Parliament and the Common- 
wealth. Hainault Forest, close by, would be a glorious 
haunt for an enterprising boy. One attraction of 
Wanstead was the nearness of Chigwell Grammar School, 
then new and famous ; and thither till he was about 
twelve years old William Penn was sent. The school was 
under rigid statutes and severe management, and the 
neighbourhood was strongly Puritan. 

When the boy was eleven his father came out of the 
Tower a banished and disgraced man ; and the family 
removed to Macroom, in County Cork. Here occurred 
the first meeting with the Quaker Thomas Loe, whose 
preaching was to influence the whole life of the boy. 

" He said, while he was but a child living at Cork with his 
father, Thomas Loe came thither. When it was rumoured a 
Quaker was come from England, his father proposed to some 
others to be like the noble Bereans, to hear him before they 
judged him. He accordingly sent to Thomas Loe to come to his 
house, where he had a meeting in the family. Though William 
was very young, he observed what effect Thomas Loe's preaching 
had on the hearers. A black servant of his father's could not 
contain himself from weeping aloud ; and, looking on his father, 



20 WILLIAM PENN 

he saw the tears running down his cheeks also. He (little 
William) then thought within himself, ' WTiat if they would all 
be Quakers ? ' This opportunity be never quite forgot — the 
remembrance of it still recurring at times."* 

Th3 childish event which is of importance in this 
biography is a spiritual experience which befel the boy 
at the age of twelve. When alone in his room " he was 
suddenly surprised with an inward comfort, and, as he 
thought, an external glory in the room, which gave rise 
to religious emotions, during which he had the strongest 
convictions of the being of a God, and that the soul of 
man was capable of enjoying communion with Him. 
He believed that the seal of Divinity had been put upon 
him at this moment, or that he had been awakened, or 
called to a holy life."f 

Thus the religious expert, the anima naturaliter Chris- 
tiana, shows young. This impact from the spiritual world 
will be regarded, as to its origin, differently according to 
the different general theories men hold concerning man 
and God and the relation between them. Every one, 
however, will agree that the experience shows a remarkable 
sensitiveness to religious impressions, which the. rest of 
his life, especially his undergraduate days, continued. 
For myself, I see no reason for not taking these impressions 
at their face value, and believing that we really have here 
the record of a Divine message sent to a soul capable of 
receiving it. 

The boy took an active grown-up interest in his 
father's estate improvements, and in all the athletic 
enjoyments of the country. He was growing tall, graceful 
and well knit. Private tutors attended to his education, 
and his remarkable ability pointed to a University career. 
In 1660, just after his father's fortunes rose, he was 

• " Penns and Peningtons," p. 174, from the Huntly M.S. 

t Clarkson 's "Life of Penn . ' ' He says in his letter to Mary Pennyman 
(Complete Works, i. 159) that " the knowledge of God from the living 
witness, from thirteen years of age, hath been dear to me." 



YOUTH 21 

entered as a gentleman commoner at Christchurch, 
Oxford.* 

He began at once with a group of friends to hold 
meetings for exhortation and prayer, " withdrawing from 
the national way of worship." This brought down the 
College authorities upon them as sectaries ; thus 
imprudently turning the bright flame of devoutness to a 
consuming Are, fighting against spiritual tyranny. At the 
age of sixteen he was fined for nonconformity. An 
open air meeting held by his old acquaintance, Thomas 
Loe, who was an Oxford citizen, attracted the boy under- 
graduate, whose spirit chimed at once with the Quaker 
gospel of the Inward Christ. 

In his earliest published work, William Penn describes 
the Universities as " signal places for idleness, looseness, 
profaneness, prodigality, and gross ignorance." Among 
the dons at Christchurch, however, was that great man, 
John Locke, twelve years older than young Penn, with 
whom in later life he was to have very friendly relations. 
We do not know that any acquaintanceship arose at 
Oxford. 

About the spring of 1662, the Admiral's son was sent 
down for being religious in too original a way. The 
Huntly MS.t which is supposed to have Penn's authority, 
states that he was sent down for writing a book which the 
priests and masters of the college did not like. The 
AngHcan triumph was fresh and the persecuting spirit 
keen. 

Clarkson has it that Penn was sent down for joining 
with other undergraduates in tearing off the newly com- 
manded gowns from men's backs. This gown was 
supposed to be a step towards Popery. The Court was 
at that time making definite attempts to capture the 
Universities for a high ritual, and the subject was very 

* Besse has it 1659, but is sometimes a little wrong in dates. Anthony 
Woods Oxford Register gives 1660. 

t " Penns and Peningtons," p. 174. 



22 WILLIAM PENN 

much alive. There is, however, an inaccuracy in the 
account, which says that Robert Spencer participated in 
the ragging. But Penn and Spencer, afterwards Earl 
of Sunderland, did not meet till 1663 in France.* The 
story represents an unverified tradition. 

As there are geniuses in music and in painting, in science 
and even in trade, whose great capacity comes out 
in their youth — Mozart's and Benjamin West's, Clerk 
Maxwell's and Rockefeller's ; so there are religious 
geniuses who are apt to function in youth also. 

We do not all have it in us to become religious leaders. 
No mere virtue will make us openers of the gates of God 
to our fellows. Vision is unequally distributed, and vision 
is of the essence of great religious achievement. Of the 
founders of Quakerism, George Fox was noticeably religious 
from his boyhood ; his religion drove him from home and 
friends and business at twenty-three. Isaac Pcnington 
was tender and much drawn to God from his earliest 
years ; and so was his wife. So, too, was Margaret Fell 
of Swarthmoor. No religious revival comes without 
gifted souls like these to lead it. 

Such religious geniuses seldom feel at home among 
established forms. These are devised to make a decorous 
home for the dull, the feeble-souled and the rehgious 
slacker. They are alloyed with errors, and they substitute 
routine for reality where this has failed. So the path of 
those who have learnt from youth upwards much of the 
Way, and know its landmarks, is often a path of thorns. 
Their type of genius does not lead to honours, to the 
House of Lords or to the National Gallery, but to mar- 
tyrdom. After their day men build the tombs of the 
prophets. There was for a long time a portrait of 
William Penn in the Hall of Christchurch. 

He thus went home from Oxford disgraced in the eyes 
of his father. The Admiral first argued with him, then 
thrashed him and finally turned him out of doors. But 

* See Penn's letter to Spencer, 1683. Janney, p. 22. 



YOUTH 23 

he soon cooled down and hit on a better method of 
exorcism. He sent the boy to France on a tour with 
" Persons of QuaUty " to complete his education. Robert 
Barclay, his friend in later years, had a similar training in 
Paris, but was hurriedly recalled by his father who feared 
that Rome was attracting him. William Penn, at the 
wise age of eighteen, ran real danger of a different kind 
from the gaiety and worldly charm of French society. 
In fact " a quite different conversation had diverted 
his mind from the serious thoughts of religion." 

One incident of his life in Paris has been accidentally 
recorded. He gives it in " No Cross, No Crown," as an 
instance of the foolishness of the theory of " honour." 
A man with a drawn sword in his hand waylaid him at 
eleven at night as he was going home, and demanded 
satisfaction for ignoring his polite salutation in the 
street, where he had raised his hat to Penn without 
response. The young Englishman had never seen the 
bow, but when his assailant made several passes, Penn 
responded and succeeded in disarming him, but did not 
kill or wound him. He says the Earl of Crawford's 
servant was by, probably accompanying Penn home as 
one of the party travelling together. 

Most of the time in France, however, was spent not in 
gaieties in Paris, but in study at Saumur, in the pleasant 
country of Anjou. Here he was taught by Professor 
Moses Amyraut, of the Huguenot College. Two quiet 
years of work here greatly extended the classical and 
theological knowledge begun at Oxford, and added a 
special knowledge of the French language and literature. 
He then went through Switzerland into Italy with Robert 
Spencer, and had his first meeting with Spencer's uncle 
and his own future friend, Algernon Sidney, then living 
in exile. 

Penn came home accomplished in French and in 
polite and courtly behaviour, but the change of environ- 
ment brought the old crisis back. Then came the 



24 WILLIAM PENN 

great struggle between the flesh and the spirit. Duty to 
his father, a distinguished career at Court, the pressure of 
his social circle, found an echo in his own bright and 
sprightly disposition, and pointed to pleasure as his goal. 
But he was not built that way. The power of the Spirit 
overcame, and he chose the beatitude of those who are 
persecuted for Christ's sake. 

This fierce conflict seems to us not so real nor so common 
as it was among these saints of the Restoration. Are 
times better ? Is the " world " not so bad as it was ? 
Or are we a diluted type of Christian ? Separation from 
the ordinary ways of our social circle, unless in a few 
details, is not practised nor required. Perhaps, even then, 
"the world" was not so bad as they thought it was. 
We should however be presumptuous, if in our ignorance 
we tried to judge them. What we must guard against 
is pure imitation of them, apart from a living conviction 
of our own. No age can copy another without losing 
sincerity and endangering charity. None can deride the 
great men of another without losing humility and failing 
in the historical sense. 

We find William Penn at twenty-four urging, in a long 
epistle, a young lady friend of his to leave her entertain- 
ments, frolics and indulgences. He realises how different 
his style is from that of the gallant of the period ; and 
concludes : 

" I have not sought fine words or chiming expressions ; the 
gravity, the concernment and nature of my subject admits no such 
butterflies. In short, be advised, my Friend, to be serious, and 
to ponder that which belongs to thy eternal peace. Retire from 
the noise and clatter of tempting visibles, to the beholding Him 
who is invisible, that He may reign in thy soul. God over all, 
exalted and blessed for ever. Farewell." 

In order of time, however, we have not yet reached th^s 
letter, by some four years. In 1664 his father had called 
him home. His two years of quiet study by the Loire 
go far to account for the scholarship which he afterwards 



YOUTH 25 

showed in his writings. His knowledge of the text of the 
Bible was great, and his quotation of it ready and volumin- 
ous. He was an easy reader of the classics ; Dutch he had 
learnt early from his mother, very thorough French was the 
result of his living at Paris and Saumur, and he spoke 
German and Italian. He was evidently by mental temper- 
ament a good linguist. Apart from languages his studies 
were theological, and so far on Calvinistic Huguenot lines. 
This was the usual preparation for Quakerism. All the 
founders passed through the current Calvinism, and their 
revolt from it was the more decided and complete, the 
more they had tried to harmonise its incongruities and 
accept its essential immorality. 

All report says that William Penn was an unusually 
handsome man ; both now at twenty and afterwards at 
forty, and the Cavalier's long locks and fine dress doubtless 
set off his natural good looks. In every way the world was 
at his feet. To give him employment he read law at 
Lincoln's Inn. 

Pepys (always inclined to be spiteful when talking 
privately to his Diary) described him as " a most 
modish person, grown a fine gentleman." " Something 
of learning he has got, but a great deal, if not too much, 
of the vanity of the French garb, and affected manner of 
gait and speech."* 

One reason for the sudden summons to England was 
the outbreak of war with the Dutch, whom France 
showed some secret sign of supporting. So that it was 
safer to be on this side the Channel. James, Duke of 
York, himself no sailor, was — with the usual inefficiency 
which goes with active royalty — Lord High Admiral 
of the English fleet, and took one of the three squadrons 
under his personal command ; he therefore took with him 
his friend Admiral Penn, as " Great Captain Commander," 
on his flagship to tell him what to do. 

This made Mr. Pepys very envious. 

* Diary. Vol. I., p. 267. 



26 WILLIAM PENN 

" That Sir William Penn should go in the same vessel as the 
Duke is an honour which, God forgive me, I could grudge him for 
his knavery and dissimulation." (Diary, ii. 235.) 

On Penn's advice the Duke of York filled up his 
commands with the tried sailors of the Commonwealth, 
Puritan or not. The result was victory in June, 1665. 
William was once employed by his father and the Duke to 
bear dispatches from the fleet via Harwich to King 
Charles personally. That summer of 1665 was the 
summer of the Great Plague in London. The solemnity 
of this great reality seems to have aided William to throw 
off the frivolities which his parents were urging upon 
him, and to come out victorious in his inward struggle. 
Signs of soberness and gravity alarmed his father, and to 
prevent any scandalous outbreak of religion the young 
man was sent to Ireland to occupy his mind with some- 
thing practical, in the management of the Shangarry 
estate, and as clerk of the cheque at Kinsale Harbour.* 

First, however, he was to call on the Duke of Ormonde, 
the Lord Lieutenant, at Dublin. In the Commonwealth 
days he and the banished Admiral Penn had drunk 
many a surreptitious health to the exiled Charles ; and 
the Duke welcomed his old friend's son and sent glowing 
accounts home of his gay spirit, charming manners, and 
dashing ways. 

A mutiny among the soldiers occurred at Carrick- 
fergus, whose castle fell into their hands. Ormonde's 
son. Lord Arran, was sent to quell it, and his new 
friend took service with him. They had a stiff task, 
but stormed the fort yard by yard ; in the fighting 
the coolness and courage of the Admiral's son was marked 
by all ; and Ormonde promised him the command of a 
company at Kinsale, which he, having tasted the joy of 
fighting, was most eager to obtain. But it did not happen 
to suit the Admiral, who preferred that he should keep 

♦ There is some doubt whether this was exactly his position. The 
point is not important. 



YOUTH 27 

the profitable civilian appointment of clerk of the 
cheque. In anticipation of his military rank, however, 
the young man had his portrait painted in armour : 
incongruous as it is we are glad to have it, for as a Quaker 
he never sat for his portrait.* But he had to stick to his 
civil clerkship and stayed managing the business of the 
port, auditing, and representing the Crown on the business 
side. He became very intimate with his father's old 
friend Roger Boyle, now Earl of Orrery and President of 
Munster, one of the family who produced Richard Boyle, 
the founder of the Royal Society. Roger's line was poetry 
and drama, not science. He gave his young friend, by 
way of satisfying his military ambitions, the title of 
Ensign in the cavalry. As the Dutch were now masters 
of the seas, Kinsale had to be guarded with care. Colonel 
Wallis, the former Puritan owner of Shangarry Castle, 
brought a suit against Admiral Penn, denying that his 
lands were forfeit to the Crown. Ireland was full of such 
suits at this time of political change and repeated con- 
fiscations : and much diplomacy was needed by the young 
man faced with the fierce old Cromwellian. His title to 
the lands, we may remember, was only recent, and as 
political as Penn's. Wniiam came over to London to 
see the case through the Land Commissioners' Court, and 
the estate was, as might be expected from a Royalist 
commission, confirmed to his father at the end of 1666. 
The rental was over a thousand a year. In February 
1667, his sister Margaret (" Peg,") was married to Anthony 
Lowther, F.R.S., of Marske, Yorkshire, a wealthy man of 
good family and high character ; her father is said to have 
given her a fortune on the occasion, which was one of 
great display. After the wedding William returned to 
Cork to attend to business. He was now near the end of 
the unsettled years of his youth. Maria Webb, quoting 
the Huntly MS.f writes, (p. 175) : 

* Granville Penn says so, but I think it is doubtful. 
I This paper is headed : " An account of the convincement of Wm. 
Penn, delivered by himself to Thomas Harvey about thirty years since, 



28 WILLIAM PENN 

" The manuscript goes on to say that, on his second coming to 
Cori<, being the only one of the family there, and requiring some 
articles of clothing, he went to the shop of a woman Friend in 
the city to procure them. He expected she would have known 
him, but she did not. He was too much altered from the days 
of his boyhood, when the Friend had seen him, to be now recog- 
nised by her. However, he told her who he was, and he spoke to 
her of Thomas Loe, and of the meeting at his father's house ten 
or eleven years before. The manuscript says, ' She admired at 
his remembering, but he told her he should never forget it ; also 
if he only knew where that person was, if 'twere a hundred miles 
off, he would go again to hear him.' She said he need not go so 
far, for the Friend had lately come thither, and would be at 
meeting the next day. So he went to the meeting, and when 
Thomas Loe stood up to preach, he was exceedingly reached, 
and wept much." 

Thomas preached from the words, " There is a faith that 
overcometh the world, and there is a faith that is overcome 
by the world." Doubtless the sermon reached the deep 
places of the soul and laid bare the meaning of William 
Penn's experiences. He was " convinced" and became 
a Quaker. The crisis had come. 

The influence of the obscure and otherwise forgotten 
Thomas Loe on his famous convert on three occasions, as 
boy, undergraduate, and man, is truly remarkable. Per- 
haps the impression made in childhood at Cork, at an 
impressionable age, may have helped the later influence 
(see p. 33). It has been impossible to reach close touch 
with Penn's inward life between Oxford and his convince- 
ment. But he has himself left a summary account of it, 
relating an interview with friends abroad.* 

" I let them know how and when the Lord first appeared unto 
me, which was about the twelfth year of my age, anno 1656 ; 
and how, at times, betwixt that and the fifteenth, the Lord visited 

which Thomas Harvey related to me in the following brief manner." It 
is dated 1727, and was kept among the MSS. of the Huntly family of 
High Wycombe, Bucks. 

* Travels in Holland and Germany. 



YOUTH 29 

me, and the divine impressions he gave me of m3'self ; of my 
persecution at Oxford, and how the Lord sustained me in the 
midst of that helhsh darkness and debauchery ; of my being 
banished the college ; the bitter usage I underwent when I 
returned to my father, whipping, beating and turning out of doors 
in 1662. Of the Lord's dealings with me in France, and in the 
time of the great plague in London ; in fine, the deep sense he 
gave me of the vanity of this world, of the irreligiousness of the 
religious of it ; then, of my mournful and bitter cries to him that 
he would show me his own way of life and salvation, and my 
resolution to follow him, whatever reproaches or sufferings should 
attend me, and that with great reverence and brokenness of 
spirit. How, after all this, the glory of the world overtook me, 
and I was even ready to give up myself unto it, seeing as yet no 
such thing as the primitive spirit and church on the earth ; and 
being ready to faint concerning my hope of the restitution of all 
things." " It was at this time that the Lord visited me with a 
certain sound and testimony of his Eternal Word, through one of 
those the world calls Quakers, namely, Thomas Loe. I related 
to them the bitter mockings and scornings that fell upon me, 
the displeasure of my parents, the invectiveness and cruelty of 
the priests, the strangeness of all my companions, what a sign 
and wonder they made of me, but, above all, that great cross of 
resisting and watching against mine own inward vain affections 
and thoughts. " 

This is a record of development, of effort, of the strivings 
of a living thing, of a soul growing to maturity. The men 
most temperamentally religious conform to this type, 
normally. A strong emotional uplift in childhood, a clear 
view of the Divine nature and Presence then, but after that 
much pilgrim work, doubts, strivings, changes of faith, the 
alternations of gaiety with moodiness which his parents 
noticed in William Penn, and then, about the time of com- 
pleted manhood, in the early twenties, a life-long consecra- 
tion to a tested call. Thenceforth the main battle is outside. 
A great putting forth of energy results. The religious or 
social reformer is made. The great leader comes when 
this religious gift arises in a man whose other qualities 
are attractive or powerful. Beauty of form and face. 



30 WILLIAM PENN 

the mirror both of gentleness and strength, great intellectual 
power, the best education then obtainable, dauntless 
courage, wealth and rank, added in William Penn's case 
outward qualifications to the inward anointing. 

It will be noted that Penn was thus not one of the 
original founders of Quakerism, the " first Publishers of 
Truth." Fifteen years had passed since the sermon on Fir 
Bank Fell, near Sedbergh, in 1652, when the local groups of 
Seekers had gathered round George Fox and formed the 
earliest Friends' Meetings. Penn was a boy of eight at 
that time. He came late, as Paul into Christianity, and 
brought like him the culture of the upper class into a body 
founded by simpler folk. 

We have not given a particularly attractive account 
of the Admiral ; yet the bond of affection between father 
and son was clearly real and close. Such incidents as the 
flogging and expulsion from home which followed the 
Oxford trouble, would then be a less uncommon and less 
epoch-making incident between father and son than it 
would now ; and the alienation cannot have lasted long. 
We have the following letter, for instance, written by the 
son to the father at sea, from Harwich, on the morning of 
his arrival with despatches to the King in 1665, noted 
above. 

" From Harwich, 23d April, 1665. 
" Honoured Father : — 

" We could not arrive here sooner than this day, about twelve 
of the clock, by reason of the continued cross winds, and, as I 
thought, foul weather. I pray God, after all the foul weather 
and dangers you are exposed to, and shall be, that you come home 
as secure. And I bless God my heart does not in any way fail, 
but firmly believe that if God has called you out to battle, he will 
cover your head in that smoky day. And, as I never knew what 
a father was till I had wisdom enough to prize him, so I can safely 
say, that now, of aU times, your concerns are most dear to me. 
It's hard, meantime, to lose both a father and a friend, . . . 

" W. P." 



YOUTH 31 

For most of the time in the critical years now to be 
recorded, we find the Admiral quietly supporting his son 
wherever he could help him in a tight place, and the son 
at times writing almost daily to his father. 

It is easy to realise what a blow to all his social 
hopes and excellent prospects was given to a worldly-wise 
parent by his son's astonishing freak of joining himself to 
a body regarded as ignorant Puritan fanatics from the 
barbarous north. 



CHAPTER III 

A Quaker 

Persecution began at once. A Friends' Meeting was 
broken up in Cork in September, 1667, and the Friends 
haled before the Mayor. Seeing Penn's cavaUer attire, 
and finding that he was son of the owner of Shangarry 
Castle, the mayor offered to release him on his giving 
bond for his good behaviour. But he refused any 
advantage over the other Friends. From his prison he 
wrote a letter to his friend the Earl of Orrery, who gave 
an order for his release. 

News of these wretched transactions were sent by 
local noblemen to the Admiral in London, and William 
was ordered home. Terrible for both father and son 
was the conflict of conviction battling with real family 
affection on both sides. Finally, the father, in despair 
of more, begged his son at least to doff his hat to himself, 
to the King and to the Duke of York, his father's friend 
and the heir to the throne. 

Truly, it seems a little matter to us, and even a sheer 
mistake on the Quaker's part. William Penn asked leave 
to consider it alone. He came out from his private 
struggle and prayer determined to refuse even that. 
We can sympathise with both father and son and with 
human nature which makes tragedies out of so little. 

" Hat Honour" can only be judged fairly when we 
realise that it stood then for much more. People 
wore their hats at meals. Pepys took cold by dining 
without one. They were worn indoors all the time. 



^■f^^i^^'^^'^^pt 




Mm 







ADMIRAL SIR WILLIAM PENN. 
After the painting by Sir Peter Lely, at Greenwich Hospital. 



A QUAKER 33 

In church they were only taken off at the solemn utterance 
of the name of God. But French fashions had come in, 
and the habit of doffing the hat was one. It stood 
as the central symbol of a wicked way of life. To 
reserve the act for reverence to God alone was simply 
to stand for the conservative upright English Puritan 
way of life. It was really an unquakerly error to stiffen 
a symbol into the substance ; but there were extenuating 
circumstances. We know from other evidence that the 
men to whom this apparent crotchet appealed were 
neither bigots nor fools. 
The Huntly MS.* gives a narrative of the critical 
moments between father and son : 

" When the morning came, they went in the coach together, 
without William knowing where they were going, till the coach- 
man was ordered to drive into the Park. Thus he found his 
father's intent was to have private intercourse with him. He 
commenced by asking him what he could think of himself, after 
being trained up in learning and courtly accomplishments, nothing 
being spared to fit him to take the position of an ambassador at 
foreign courts, or that of a minister at home, that he should now 
become a Quaker. William told him that it was in obedience 
to the manifestation of God's will in his conscience, but that it 
was a cross to his own nature. He also reminded him of that 
former meeting in Cork, and told him that he was himself at that 
time convinced of the truth of the doctrine of the Quakers ; 
only that the grandeur of the world had been felt to be too great 
a sacrifice to give up. After more discourse they turned home- 
wards. They stopped at a tavern on the way, where Sir William 
ordered a glass of wine. On entering a room on this pretext, he 
immediately locked the door. Father and son were now face to 
face, under the influence of stem displeasure on the one hand, 
and on the other, prayerful feeling to God for strength rightly to 
withstand or hear what was coming. William, remembering his 
early experience on returning from Oxford, expected something 
desperate. The thought arose that the Admiral was going to cane 
him. But, instead of that, the father, looking earnestly at him, 

* "Pennsand Peningtons," p. 177. 



34 WILLIAM PENN 

and laying his hands down on the table, solemnly told him he 
was going to kneel down to pray to Almightj^ God that his son 
might not be a Quaker, and that he might never again go to a 
Quaker meeting. William, opening the casement, declared that 
before he would listen to his father putting up such a prayer to 
God, he would leap out of the window. At that time a nobleman 
was passing the tavern in his coach, and observing Sir William's 
at the door, he aUghted. Being directed to the room in which 
father and son were together, his knock came in time to arrest the 
catastrophe. He had evidently heard of William's return, and 
of the Admiral's high displeasure. After saluting the former, the 
MS. says that ' he turned to the father, and told him he might 
think himself happy in having a son who could despise the 
grandeur of the world, and refrain from the vices which so many 
were running into.' " 

They paid a visit before they returned home to another 
nobleman, and the discourse with him also turned 
on the change in William. Here again, the father was 
congratulated and the son's resolution commended. 
These congratulations were cheering to the young convert, 
whatever they may have been to the father. 

The Admiral expelled his son from home and threatened 
to disinherit him. He was dependent on charity and on 
what his mother privately sent him. Time — indeed, no 
long time — mollified and reconciled the father. His son's 
return, very likely arranged by his mother, was regarded 
with a blind eye, though for a time his father refused 
openly to recognise him. 

In 1668 William Penn began his service as a Quaker 
minister, which he was to keep up for fifty years. His 
earliest published work dates also from this year. The 
flow of authorship lasted so long as he retained his mental 
faculties. His Collected Works include fifty-eight original 
volumes ; they cover 1,586 closely printed folio pages. His 
printed words reach one million and a quarter. 

To give an account in any detail, or indeed any account 
at all, of this enormous literary output, would be beyond 
our scope here. Nor would it be serviceable to analyse or 



A QUAKER 35 

critically estimate every work. For the same Quaker 
gospel is expounded many times over. Each book or 
pamphlet was written for its occasion ; and no body of 
collected works was ever in the author's mind. Never- 
theless, it is of real biographical importance to understand 
the nature of the enthusiasm which laid hold on William 
Penn in the heyday of his youth and lasted him with no 
looking back nor momentary hesitation till the end of his 
long hfe, bearing him through persecution and calamity, 
and stimulating his ceaseless labour. His first work, only 
the length of a bulky pamphlet, will reveal this. Its 
descriptive title page, like all the title pages of that 
day, gives the purpose and drift of what follows. It 
runs : — 

Truth Exalted in a short but sure Testimony against all 
these Religions, Faiths, and Worships, that have been formed and 
followed in the darkness of Apostasy : — and for that Glorious 
Light which is now risen and shines forth, in the Life and Doctrine 
of the despised Quakers as the alone good old way of Life and 
Salvation. 

" Presented to Princes, Priests and People, that they may 
repent, believe and obey. 

" By William Penn, whom Divine Love constrains in an holy 
contempt, to trample on Egypt's glory, not fearing the King's 
wrath, having beheld the majesty of Him who is invisible." 

This, properly spaced out, and with capital letters 
and various types employed, gave a vivid summary to 
a possible reader. The author summons the various 
Churches to answer his condemnation. First, the Papists 
are attacked root and branch, on grounds familiar to all 
Protestants. Then the Protestants, i.e., " those who 
profess the Scriptures for the Rule of Life and Doctrine," 
are bidden " to stand their trial by them." The 
Church of England is accused of " not being yet got out of 
the borders of Babylon's form, and being altogether in her 
lustful, proud, persecuting and wicked nature." The 
persecutions under Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., 



36 



WILLIAM PENN 



are mentioned, " but more particularly the many thousands 
now of late that have been clubbed, bruised, imprisoned, 
exiled, poisoned to death by stinking dungeons, and 
ruined in their outward estates, contrary to law. Christian 
or human." Upon them the invective of Amos, Isaiah, 
Jeremiah, and Ezekiel is poured. " You deny present 
Revelation to any, though, without it, as Christ saith, 
no man can know God, whom to know is life eternal, and 
place the ground of Divine knowledge in human arts 
and sciences, that thereby you may engross a function to 
yourselves, and keep up your trade of yearly gain upon the 
poor people, preaching sin for term of life, thereby render- 
ing invalid the glorious power of the second Adam, and 
indulging people in transgression." This constant dwell- 
ing upon the helplessness of human nature caused one 
of the central lines of protest of the Society, which stood 
for the perfectibility of human nature. Our author 
demands Scriptural authority, since the Scriptures are 
avowed as the rule, for tithes, worldly pomp of Bishops 
and their lordship and authority, for 

" forms of prayer, litanies, responses, singing, choristers, organs, 
altars, bowing, surplices, square caps, hoods, rockets, fonts, 
baby-baptism, Holy days, with much more such like dirty trash 
and foul superstition." 

" Are ye baptized by the Holy Ghost and with Fire, crucified 
through the daily cross to the world, born again and your affections 
set on things above. But alas ! poor souls ! are you not at 
' Have mercy upon us miserable sinners, there is no health in us, ' 
from seven to seventy ? " 

The tract goes on to lay at the door of the Church 
the manifold wickedness of the Restoration period ; a 
connection inappropriate now and generally ; but the 
alliance between Church and Court could hardly help 
occurring to those persecuted by that alhance. 

He then attacks the separatists of various names for 
living on the tradition of their Uving founders, " com- 
passing yourselves with the sparks of your own fire." 



A QUAKER 37 

He denies their doctrine of imputed righteousness, as being 
a cloak and excuse for sin, also the common (though not 
universal) doctrine of election and reprobation, "whereby 
the glorious God of mercy is represented more infamously 
unjust than the worst of men." They are said " to rely 
on the conceivings and apprehensions of other men and 
books well refuted, whereby God's grace and light have 
lost their office of leading and teaching." I am afraid 
that this danger is one to which every religious body, 
including the Society of Friends, is and always will be, 
subject. 

From these he turns to preach the new and living 
faith he had embraced : 

" This is the second Adam, the quickening Spirit, the Lord 
from Heaven, the new and spiritual man, the heavenly bread, the 
true vine, the flesh and blood that was given for the life of the 
world, the second covenant, the Law writ in the heart and spirit, 
put in the inward parts, the way in which the fool cannot err, the 
truth before deceit was, the life that's hid in God, eternal in the 
heavens, glorified before the world began ; the power, the wisdom, 
the righteousness of God, the plant of renown, the royal seed 
that bruiseth the serpent's head ; in short, the grace which hath 
appeared unto all men, teaching them to deny ungodliness and 
worldly lusts, and to live godlikely and soberly in this present 
world." 

In such rhetoric and flood of quotation, does he 
attempt to express the undefinable. But if the reader 
grasps it, he has got at the heart of the Quaker message. 
In such storm of controversy and fierceness of attack it 
was born. Perhaps it could not, one may even say 
definitely it could not, have come into existence and sur- 
vived without this fierce fire of destructive testimony, 
these garments rolled in blood. It needed spiritual 
assertiveness to survive. 

Pepys tried to read this book. " A ridiculous, 
nonsensical book. I was ashamed to read in it," com- 
ments that worthy. 



3^ WILLIAM PENN 

But we cannot and would not write in this vein now, 
of other Christian bodies. We desire to hold our own 
with more urbanity and more charity. We must remem- 
ber that this tract expresses the zeal of a young convert 
at the age of twenty-four. 

We must not forget nevertheless, that we have not had 
to meet the episcopal argument of gaol fever. Very many 
of the young men who founded the Society had fallen 
in the battle when William Penn became a leader : and 
the gaols were, for a generation, always full of martyrs. 



I 

I 



CHAPTER IV 

The Tower of London 

A CONTROVERSY of little importance in itself soon came 
in William Penn's way ; but as it is somewhat typical of 
the atmosphere of those days, it is worth recording, 
particularly as it led to imprisonment and to important 
authorship. 

A Presbyterian minister, Thomas Vincent, whose 
" lectures " in Spittleyard were connived at by the 
Government, lost two members of his congregation, a 
mother and daughter, to the Quakers. Hence an attack 
from the pulpit on their " erroneous and damnable 
doctrines." Rather would the reverend gentleman 
indulge in gross immorality or drink poison than embrace 
Quakerism. Fear of hell and fear of husband and father 
equally failed to break the resolution of the two newly 
convinced Friends. George Whitehead and William 
Penn demanded a public debate in the Spitalfields 
chapel to clear their characters, and it was fixed for 
two in the afternoon. The Presbyterian congregation 
were, however, advised to come at one and occupy the 
seats. Three assistants were also unexpectedly provided 
for Thomas Vincent. Amid uproar and much disorder 
and abuse the debate went on till after dark. Any less 
hopeful environment for a discussion about the Trinity, 
dealing with substances, subsistences, manifestations, 
operations and persons, could hardly be found. The 
matter was closed in the unfair manner sometimes 
employed in religious controversy, by Mr. Vincent falling 
on his knees and praying, " with many strangely affected 

39 



40 WILLIAM PENN 

whines " against his opponents as blasphemers. He then 
dismissed the assembly and had the candles put out. 
But Friends continued to reply, and the people stayed. 
So Mr. Vincent, very pale, came in with a candle and 
promised them another debate. This promise being 
broken. Friends appeared at his next service, and spoke 
after he had done, though he " slunk away," and left 
them stranded without an opponent. 
>^ This caused William Penn to relieve his pent up 
feelings in an important, though brief work, " The Sandy 
Foundation Shaken." This was a refutation of three of 
the current doctrines, viz. : — 

1. One God subsisting in three distinct and separate 

Persons. 

2. The impossibility of God's pardoning sinners without 

a plenary satisfaction. 
3,, The justification of impure persons by an imputative 
righteousness. 

" from the authority of Scripture testimonies and right 
reason." There was indeed ample testimony to his hand 
from both sources. The three texts selected for the title 
page may be taken as samples. 

" But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all 
things." 

" Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity ? He 
retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy." 

" For I will not justify the wicked." 

It is a sign of soundness and of well-guided freedom 
that the Quakers' claim to direct knowledge of spiritual 
things led them first to an attack upon this preposterous 
Puritan scholasticism. Penn proved his case, to a 
modern reader's mind, abundantly. " Too good for him 
ever to have writ it," snarls Pepys. 

Vincent called on the Government to put down by 
force the writer of this attack upon what passed then for 
essential Christian verities. It happened unfortunately 



THE TOWER OF LONDON 41 

that Arlington the Secretary of State had had and was still 
having a quarrel with Sir WiUiam Penn, in fact abetting 
a hostile intrigue against his position. He had not suc- 
ceeded as yet in ruining his enemy ; but to attack him 
through his eccentric son seemed to a worthless buffoon 
like Lord Arlington an excellent chance. 

The vulnerable point in William Penn's position was 
that he had not obtained the Bishop of London's licence 
for printing " The Sandy Foundation Shaken." This 
timorous law was not, in fact, effective nor usually obeyed, 
though recently enacted as part of the war against Non- 
conformity. It would however, enable any plotter 
of harm, like Arlington, to have the author and printer 
before a magistrate, who might send them to trial for 
misdemeanour, probably with bail. But Arlington did 
not wait for these legal formalities, and this relatively 
mild course. Penn had called upon him and confessed 
the technical fault, asking that his printer, already 
incarcerated, might be set at hberty and he the author 
alone be blamed. He promptly had William Penn 
arrested and sent off to the Tower, without charge, or 
trial, or any kind of authority. This was in December, 
1668. But he found a new difficulty at the gate of the 
Tower. Sir John Robinson, the Lieutenant, refused to 
take him in without a proper legal warrant signed by the 
King in Council, H he had done so he would have put 
himself into danger, for Admiral Penn and his friend the 
Duke of York, might yet prove stronger than a fool like 
Lord Arlington in the fortune's wheel of politics. 
Robinson was there because he was unscrupulous, but 
this young man had friends who gave a cautious man 
pause, particularly when one was getting on in life, and 
had made many enemies. Two of his predecessors had 
come to a bad end. Sir John asked Arlington to legalise 
the proposed confinement by a royal warrant. 

This put Arlington into a difficulty. Printing an 
unlicensed book was not a matter for the Tower or a 



42 WILLIAM PENN 

Royal warrant signed by the King in Council. These 
were used for treasonable conduct. So a charge of 
treason must be concocted. Arlington interviewed 
Penn at the Tower, and said that he had dropped a paper 
full of treason against the King on the floor of Arlington's 
house, and tried to frighten him into confessing it — a 
poor and desperate trick which naturally did not succeed, 
however moving were the Secretary of State's theatrical 
gifts. So he dissembled, professed joy at Penn's 
denial, and said he would go at once to the King on his 
behalf. He went to Charles at Whitehall, where as a 
comic entertainer he was always welcome. Doubtless he 
put the case comically, acted the Quaker, and then asked 
Charles to help him out of the difficulty he had hastily 
got into. The two consulted, and then Charles remem- 
bered that Penn's pamphlet had been called blasphemous. 
This gave an opening to the Defender of the Faith, the 
Head of the Church in England. A charge of blasphemy 
was substituted for that of unlicensed printing. More- 
over, sending for the Council's minute book, Charles held 
a mock meeting, himself and Arlington present, and wrote 
the necessary minute, committing William Penn to the 
Tower for blasphemy. Charles was usually a friend of 
the Penns, but he was given to understand that a very 
short dose of the Tower would bring the youth to reason, 
and then he could easily be pardoned. But Robinson 
did not yet feel safe. He must have more signatures. 
He got them. A hasty council was convened, and seven 
members signed it. 

A " close " imprisonment in the Tower was terribly 
severe. The prisoner was locked up in his cell with a 
keeper. He had little fuel in a memorably cold winter. 
He could, without special licence, see no friend — no doctor, 
clergyman or lawyer. He could write no letters and 
receive no presents. He ate prison fare. He seems to have 
been allowed to write freely. 

Arlington, however, still dreaded the future vengeance 



THE TOWER OF LONDON 43 

of the Admiral, a man much more necessary to the safety 
of England than himself, or even than his patron Prince 
Rupert. He gave it out that all was done on the initi- 
ative of the Bishop of London, whose licence had been 
ignored. The standard Quaker biographies still state 
this ; and Penn in the Tower believed it. It was reported 
to him that the Bishop had said he should either recant 
or die a prisoner. His reply was : 

" All is well. I wish they had told me so before, since the 
expecting of a release put a stop to some business ; thou mayest 
tell my father, who, I know, will ask thee, these words : ' My 
prison shall be my grave before I will budge a jot ; for I owe 
my conscience to no mortal man. I have no need to fear. God 
will make f mends for all. They are mistaken in me. I value 
not their threats and resolutions, for they shall know T can weary 
out their malice and peevishness, and in me shall they all behold 
a resolution above fear, conscience above cruelty, and a baffle 
put to all their designs by the spirit of patience, the companion of 
all the tribulated flock of the blessed Jesus, who is the author and 
finisher of the faith that overcomes the world, yea, death and hell 
too. Neither great nor good things are ever attained without 
loss and hardships. He that would reap and not labour must 
faint with the wind and perish in disappointments, but an hair of 
my head shall not fall without the Providence of my Father that 
is over all,"* 

This memorable saying, so characteristic of the author, 
has done some injustice to the Bishop of London. For to 
him Charles and Arlington turned to pull their chesnuts 
out of the fire. The King found that Arlington's anti- 
cipation of the boy's early surrender was mistaken. He 
sent various divines to him to try to persuade him of the 
error of his views. They reported him reasonable but 
unyielding. Penn's father had yielded to a Tower 
imprisonment, in Oliver's time, very quickly. Meantime, 
the Admiral was ill, mostly in bed, unable to attend at the 

* " Life," by Besse. 



44 WILLIAM PENN 

Navy Board, and surrounded by enemies. His star was 
setting. After his son had been in prison over three 
months, he managed to get to Whitehall and presented 
to the King a petition for his release. The Council 
refused. The King ordered the Bishop of London to 
proceed against him in the Consistory Court for " blas- 
phemous heresies." But the Bishop was too prudent to 
do anything of the sort. He knew there was no blas- 
phemy in the " Sandy Foundation Shaken." He wanted 
no disturbance or scandal in his diocesan court. He did 
not want to meet in argument so able an advocate ; 
so he took no steps, and, ignoring the royal instruction, let 
Arlington find some other way out. The Bishop showed 
good judgment and probably good will.* 

Meantime the Admiral lost his seat at the Naval 
Board and his official residence, and retired to Wanstead. 
He was very ill, and begged the Duke of York to help his 
imprisoned son. Penn himself also wrote a letter to 
Arlington on the ist of July, in which a careful discussion 
on religious toleration with classical examples was, I 
fear, an instance of pearls being cast in a wrong direction. 
The intervention of the Duke of York caused Charles to 
send his chaplain, none other than the good and wise 
Stillingfleet, to see if he could come to such terms with 
William Penn as to enable him to be released. A great 
theologian, and a large and charitable soul, was at last 
enlisted to cure the bungling of Vincent, Arlington and the 
Defender of the Faith. Penn and he were kindred spirits, 
they were both young, they respected one another and 
had fruitful discussions. Under Stillingfleet' s advice and 
influence Penn wrote and published his " Innocency 
with her Open Face." Yield he would not, but explain 

* This account of the responsibility of Arlington is taken from 
Hepworth Dixon 'slater volume, " The History of William Penn," 1872. It 
is based on facts discovered since his former book, and Janney's. He gives 
no authorities in this later more popular book, but it appears to be based 
on a paper read by John Bruce in 1853, before the Society of Antiquaries, 
and published in Archaeologia, Vol. XXXV., pp. 72-90. This reference 
is from H. M. Jenkins, " Family of William Penn," p. 230. 



THE TOWER OF LONDON 45 

what he had or had not said, he could. Stillingfleet, 
whom he frequently quotes, was a liberal theologian, and 
liberalism is a great reconciler. The King's theological 
sensitiveness was satisfied, and Penn was released, after 
between eight and nine months' close confinement. 

The author asserts in this book his belief in the Divinity 
of Christ, in a very full sense. His opponents had said 
" in press, pulpit and talk," that a denial of this followed 
from his denial of the Trinity, a much more elaborate 
conception. The unity of Christ and God, not their 
separateness, was Penn's contention. Secondly, though 
not believing in the need for plenary satisfaction, " I 
believe in no other name by which remission, atonement 
and salvation can be obtained, but Jesus Christ the 
Saviour." He says his position is that of Stillingfleet' s 
" Discourse about Christ's Suffering." He also believes 
in the Holy Spirit, " as the same Almighty and Eternal 
God." He concludes by saying that if the persecution 
of Friends is to continue, " our case can never change 
nor happiness abate, for no human edict can possibly 
deprive us of His glorious presence, who is able to make 
the dismalest prisons so many receptacles of pleasure." 
William Penn thus pleaded that Friends were orthodox 
Christians, as Christian doctrine was then understood 
in its broad features, whilst declining to follow the 
Calvinist system. 

It cannot, however, be said that there is any exact 
or self-consistent Christology in the two treatises taken 
together. Scripture texts were freely quoted and left 
to others or to intuition to expound as spiritual insight 
served.* 

His enemies would have hesitated before giving eight 
months' leisure to the ardent spirit of Penn, if they had 
foreseen the use that would be made of it. In the Tower 
he wrote his greatest work, " No Cross no Crown." In 
the Preface to the second edition of 1682, we read : — 

* See below. Chapter VIII. p. 



46 WILLIAM PENN 

" Christ's Cross is Christ's way to Christ's crown. This is the 
subject of the following discourse, first writ during my confine- 
ment in the Tower of London in 1668, now reprinted with great 
enlargements of matter and testimonies ; that thou, reader, 
mayst be won to Christ and if won already, brought nearer to him. 
'Tis a path God in His everlasting kindness guided my feet into, 
in the flower of my youth, when about two-and-twenty years of 
age. Then he took me by the hand and led me out of the 
pleasures, vanities and hopes of the world. I have tasted of 
Christ's judgments and of His mercies, and of the world's frowns 
and reproaches ; I rejoice in my experience and dedicate it to 
thy service in Christ. 'Tis a debt I have long owed, and has been 
long expected : I have now paid it and delivered my soul." 

The book is an appeal for practical Christ janity, and a 
statement of its demands, covering both worship and 
conduct, in fact the whole of life, public and private. 
Such a book was sure to come out as a typical efflorescence 
of Quakerism. For its appeal was always from tradition 
to experience, from authority to life. Practice is Quaker- 
ism's strongest side. If William Penn had never written 
anything else his message to the world would have been 
delivered in this volume. It is one of the notable voices 
of Christianity, an unflinching presentment of what 
Christian experience is and demands of those faithful to 
it. It contains all the Quaker testimonies, against 
ritual, professional preaching, ornamental worship, prayer 
from books ; and a defence of meetings based on silence 
and depending upon individual initiative in ministry. 
It is unrestrained and voluminous in expression, and 
hortatory in manner. But it contains many purple 
passages of pungent quality, and the style is aflame with 
conviction. It became for two centuries the standard 
book of Friends' practice, as Barclay's Apology was 
of their theory, and Fox's Journal of their history and 
origin. It has been the stay and the standard of thousands 
of strong men and women. Perhaps it cannot be, even 
ought not to be, to us what it was to our fathers. Each 
age must write its own " No Cross, no Crown." The 



THE TOWER OF LONDON 47 

religious conflicts of a past age have burnt into it and for us 
discoloured it. We must have a less controversial help 
to Christian conduct ; but it is hardly likely that we shall 
produce one so penetrating. It is a book now rarely read. 
By 1857 it had gone through twenty-four editions, but 
since that time its circulation has been very slight, and 
due to the desire of some persons that other persons should 
read it. In all cases it is the second edition of 1682 that 
has been reprinted. It is a more complete and mature 
work than the hasty production under prison conditions 
of the young man of four-and-twenty in 1668. Some of 
the minor Quaker peculiarities took a more prominent 
place in the first edition than they did in the complete 
work. 

As an example of the invective which alternates with 
loving appeal, we may quote a passage which incidentally 
treats the Restoration Drama from an unusual angle of 
vision (Chap. XVII. § i). 

" Next, those customs and fashions, which make up the 
common attire and conversation of the times, do eminently 
obstruct the inward retirement of people's minds, by which they 
may come to behold the glories of immortality ; who instead of 
fearing their Creator in the days of their youth, and seeking the 
kingdom of God in the first place (Eccl. xii. i ; Luke xii. 31), 
expecting the addition of such other things as may be necessary 
and convenient, according to the injimctions of God and the Lord 
Jesus Christ ; as soon as they can do anything, they look after 
pride, vanity and that conversation which is most delightful to the 
flesh (Jer. xviii. 18-20), which becomes their most delightful 
entertainment : all which do but evidently beget lustful con- 
ceptions, and inflame to inordinate thoughts, wanton discourses, 
lascivious treats, if not at least to wicked actions. To such it is 
tedious and offensive to speak of heaven or another life. Bid 
them reflect upon their actions, not grieve the Holy Spirit, con- 
sider of an eternal doom, prepare for judgment ; and the best 
return that is usual is reproachful jests (Eph. v. 3, 4), profane 
repartees, if not direct blows. Their thoughts are otherwise 
employed ; their mornings are too short for them to wash, to 



48 WILLIAM PENN 

smooth, to paint, to patch, to braid, to curl, to gum, to powder, 
and otherwise to attire and adorn themselves (Psalm xii. 2 ; 
Isaiah v. ; lix. 3, 4.) ; whilst their afternoons are as commonly 
bespoke for visits and for plays ; where their usual entertainment 
is some stories fetched from the more approved romances ; some 
strange adventures, some passionate amours, unkind refusals, 
grand impediments, importunate addresses, miserable disappoint- 
ments, wonderful surprises, unexpected encounters, castles 
surprised, imprisoned lovers rescued, and meetings of supposed 
dead ones ; bloody duels, languishing voices echoing from solitary 
groves, overheard mournful complaints, deep-fetched sighs sent 
from wild deserts, intrigues managed with unheard of subtlety ; 
and whilst all things seem at the greatest distance, then are dead 
people alive, enemies friends, despair turned to enjoyment, and 
all their impossibilities reconciled ; things that never were, nor 
are, nor ever shall or can be, they all come to pass. And as if man 
and woman were too slow to answer the loose suggestions of 
corrupt nature, or were too intent on more divine speculations 
and heavenly affairs, they have all that is possible for the most 
extravagant wits to invent ; not only express lies, but utter im- 
possibilities to very nature, on purpose to excite their minds to 
those idle passions, and intoxicate their giddy fancies with 
swelling nothings but airy fictions ; which not only consume their 
time, effeminate their natures, debase their reason, and set them 
on work to reduce these things to practice, and make each adven- 
ture theirs by imitation ; but if disappointed, — as who can other- 
wise expect from such mere phantasms ? — the present remedy is 
latitude in the greatest vice. And yet these are some of their 
most innocent recreations, which are the very gins of Satan, to 
ensnare people ; contrived most agreeable to their weakness, 
and in a more insensible manner mastering their affections by 
entertainments most taking to their senses. On such occasions 
it is their hearts breed vanity, and their eyes turn interpreters 
to their thoughts and their looks whisper the secret inflammations 
of their intemperate minds (Prov. vii. 10-21) ; wandering so 
long abroad, till their lascivious actings bring night home, and 
load their minds and reputations with lust and infamy."* 

* A fuller account of the three books named in this chapter may be 
found in the author's work, " The Faith of a Quaker," Book II., Chap. III. 
(Camb. Univ. "Press), a book who.se publication is postponed till after 
the war. 




GATEWAY OF NEWGATE, 1666. 



THE TOWER OF LONDON 49 

In the summer of 1669 William Penn went again to 
Ireland on the business of his father's estates and stayed 
about nine months. He visited many meetings and the 
prisons where Friends were. On their behalf he presented 
an address to the Lord Lieutenant, and repeatedly applied 
to him, to the Chancellor, and to Lord Arran, for the 
release of Friends ; and he had the happiness of seeing his 
efforts successful before he returned to England. An 
order in Council liberated Friends. A " National Meet- 
ing " of Friends in Ireland was held in Dublin, at William 
Penn's lodgings, in November of 1669. He seems to have 
been gladly accepted as a leader from the first. Oddly 
enough, on his voyage to Ireland, a Friend was a passenger 
who had been also a fellow passenger with him on his 
last voyage from Ireland when just " convinced," and 
had then helped and encouraged him. This good man 
now felt himself left far behind spiritually by one who 
had set out after him, and was much humbled, " was led 
to a solid reflection upon his own negligence and unfaith- 
fulness and expressed with many tears a renewed visitation 
and deep concern upon his spirit." Probably this 
excellent Friend need not have been distressed. It is a 
common experience. 



CHAPTER V 

The Rights of Juries 

The few years of William Penn's Quakerism had been 
times of adventure and of strain, but the year 1670 
brought with it still larger and keener encounters in the 
Holy War. The trial of Penn and Mead in that year was 
an event of great moment in the constitutional history 
of England. Already from his prison in the Tower he 
had written a long manifesto to Lord Arlington the 
Secretary of State, a member of the famous Cabal govern- 
ment, pointing out how illegal his confinement was, 
under the constitution. He was not an unlikely man to 
find himself called on to defend the rights of citizenship. 
In 1670 the second Conventicle Act was passed, con- 
firming and making effectual the provisions of the earlier 
Act of 1664. Under these Acts the Church of England 
committed the greatest folly in her history, in attempting 
to destroy Nonconformity by forbidding all its meetings 
by law. It deprived the accused of the benefit of trial 
by jury. Any justice of the peace, whether sitting in 
sessions or not, could convict at his pleasure. It con- 
tained also the extraordinary clause that in case of doubt 
arising about its interpretation " the. Act shall be construed 
most largely and beneficially for the suppression of 
conventicles," i.e., it was to be construed against the 
prisoner, contrary to a maxim of English legal practice. 
Most of the religious bodies attacked bowed outwardly 
to the storm. That is, they abandoned their chapels and 
met secretly elsewhere when they could. No such recog- 

50 



THE RIGHTS OF JURIES 51 

nition of the power of evil commended itself to the daring 
and inflexible spirit of Friends, They met as usual ; 
and many a time the soldiers had to break up a meeting 
and hale the congregation, or, it might be, a speaker and 
some others, to jail. The third offence meant a fine of 
£100, or transportation to the convict station on 
Barbadoes, and every succeeding offence a fine of ;£ioo. 

The Meeting House in Gracechurch Street in the City 
of London was found guarded by soldiers, on Sunday, 
August 14th, 1670. Friends, therefore, naturally met 
for worship in the street outside. William Penn was 
preaching when the police appeared, with warrants ready 
written by the Lord Mayor against him and William 
Mead, who was of the company. Penn gives an account 
of it in a letter to his father, written the next day from a 
place of semi-imprisonment. 

" Yesterday I was taken by a band of soldiers, with one Capt. 
Mead, a linen draper, and in the evening carried before the Mayor. 
He proceeded against me according to the ancient law ; he told 
me I should have my hat pulled off, for all I was Admiral Penn's 
son. I told him that I desired to be in common with others, 
and sought no refuge from the common usage. He answered, 
it had been no matter if thou hadst been a commander twenty 
years ago. ... He bade his clerk write me for Bridewell, 
and there would he see me whipt himself, for all I was Penn's 
son, that starved the seamen. Indeed these words grieved me 
as well as that it manifested his great weakness and mahce to 
the whole Company, that were about one hundred people. I told 
him I could very well hear his severe expressions to me concerning 
myself, but was sorry to hear him speak those abuses of my 
father, that was not present, at which the assembly seemed to 
murmur." 

Starhng the Lord Mayor was a renegade Cromwellian, 
once a great persecutor of Royalists. The Friends were 
indicted at the Old Bailey on September i. The charge 
was, in summarised form, that the defendants, with other 
persons to the number of three hundred, did with force and 



^2 WILLIAM PENN 

arms unlawfully and tumultuously assemble and congre- 
gate themselves together to the disturbance of the peace 
—that William Penn, by agreement between him and 
WilHam Mead, before made, and by abetment of the said 
William Mead, did take upon himself to preach and speak, 
by reason whereof a great concourse and tumult of people 
in the street did a long time remain and continue in con- 
tempt of the Lord the King and of his law ; to the great 
disturbance of his peace, to the great terror of many of his 
lieges, and to the ill example of all others." ^^ ^ . 
One can realise that the authorities could hardly afford 
to allow themselves to be baffled by this open-air demon- 
stration of the Quakers whom they had turned out of 
doors. Thus does one ill course lead to another ; and 
the path of compulsion descends rapidly to an intolerable 

^ ^ The trial occupied September ist, 3rd, 4tli, and 5tli. 
The Justices were Sir Samuel Starling, the Lord Mayor, 
Sir John Howel, the Recorder, five Aldermen and three 

Sheriffs. 

At the beginning the Recorder refused to the pnsoners 
a copy of the lengthy indictment: on which Penn 
demanded that no undue advantage should be taken of 
this, and that he should have a fair hearing in defence. 
They then pleaded Not Guilty. 

Then the court adjourned, and the prsoners were 
brought up in the afternoon but made to stand aside while 
felons and murderers were tried ; thus both wearying 
and insulting them. After five hours' attendance the 
court broke up without reaching their case. Two days 
later, on Saturday the third, they were again brought up, 
and the case began in earnest. The poUce had, with kmdly 
intention, removed the prisoners' hats, which they had a 
conscientious objection to doing themselves, but the Bench 
were determined not to be denied their cunmng device 
on this point, and ordered their hats to be put on again 
and they brought up to the bar, where they were fined 



THE RIGHTS OF JURIES 53 

forty marks apiece for contempt of court for having them 
on. Penn remarked that as the Bench was responsible 
for their hats being on, the Bench should be fined. The 
tone of the prisoners' minds comes out in William Mead's 
protest : 

" I desire the Jury and all people to take notice of this injustice 
of the Recorder, who spake not to me to pull off my hat, and yet 
hath he put a fine upon my head. fear the Lord and dread 
His power, and yield to the guidance of His Holy Spirit, for He 
is not far from every one of you." 

So far the Bench had not gained much moral weight, but 
had ensured that, whatever the verdict, the accused should 
go back to prison for not paying this fine. 

The authorities seem to have known and feared 
Edward Bushel, one of the jurors, and pretended that he 
had not kissed the book ; and so brought him up again to 
swear. He was thought to have a conscience against 
swearing twice. But the trick failed. 

The police evidence was to the effect that they could 
not get near to William Penn because of the crowd, nor 
hear him because of the noise ; but that William Mead 
had arranged that if William Penn was allowed peaceably 
to finish, he would give himself up at the close. 

Then followed a long duel between the Recorder and 
William Penn. The accused demanded by what law 
they were being tried, and the Recorder refused informa- 
tion beyond saying that it was the Common Law, and 
abusing Penn as a saucy and impertinent fellow. Penn 
quoted Coke's Institutes and pleaded the privileges of 
Magna Charta. He managed to get out some forcible 
pleas in defence of the liberty of the subject, and after 
many undignified attempts to silence him, they haled him 
off to the " Bale Dock " at the far back of the court. 

William Mead then stated in his defence that though 
once a Captain in the army he had now no freedom to use 
violence of any kind, so could not be guilty of behaving 



54 WILLIAM PENN 

vi et armis. He demanded an order of the law, and 
quoted Coke on the nature of a Riot. Here the Recorder 
interrupted him and thanked him for teaching him the 
law, scornfully pulling off his hat. Mead replied " Thou 
mayst put on thy hat, I have never a fee for thee now." 
On finding themselves no more a match for him than for 
Penn, and receiving from the prisoner a quantity of 
troublesome and impressive Latin, they sent him 
away also, to join his friend in the Bale Dock. The 
Recorder then charged the Jury in the prisoners' absence ; 
but he was interrupted by William Penn shouting, 
though unseen, from the distant Bale Dock, appealing 
against the charge being given in their absence, and 
quoting Coke again, on the right of prisoners to be heard. 
The only thing the Recorder could do was to order the 
prisoners into " the Hole," a stinking place in Newgate, 
close by, where they were safely out of hearing at any rate. 
Penn describes this foul place as not fit for pigs. The 
Jury debated an hour and a half. Then eight walked in, 
and agreed to convict. The four dissentients were 
ordered down also, among them Edward Bushel, the 
hero of this story. The Recorder threatened him. 
" I shall set a mark upon you, sir." Other Aldermen 
and the Lord Mayor abused him, and sent the Jury back. 
After a considerable time they returned, unanimous. 
" William Penn is guilty of speaking in Gracechurch 
Street."* This would never do. But not another word 
would the jury consent to say. They were sent back for 
half an hour, but returned with a similar verdict in writing. 
The court fell upon Bushel and Thomas Vere, the fore- 
man, and threatened to lock the jury up without meat, 
drink, fire or tobacco, till they revised their verdict. 
Penn vigorously interfered in defence of his jury. 

" The agreement of Twelve men is a verdict in law, 
and such a one being given by the jury, I require the Clerk 
of the Court to record it, as he will answer it at his peril 
• The contemporary spelling is " Gracious Street." 



THE RIGHTS OF JURIES 55 

and if the jury bring in another verdict contrary to this, 
I affirm they are perjured men in law. (And looking 
upon the Jury, said), " You are Englishmen, mind your 
privilege, give not away your right." 

" Nor will we ever do it," responded the jurymen. 

A juryman pleaded illness, but the Court refused to 
release him. " Starve and hold your principles." They 
were kept all night without food or drink, or any other 
necessity. At seven the next day, Sunday, the court 
met again, but their verdict was unchanged. 

The court fell upon Bushel. " That conscience of 
yours would cut my throat," remarked the Lord Mayor. 
" No, my lord, it never shall," replied the juror. " But 
I will cut yours as soon as I can," replied the Lord Mayor. 
The Recorder, not to be outdone in throwing away his 
dignity added, " He has inspired the jury ; he has the 
spirit of divination : methinks I feel him. I will have a 
positive verdict, or you shall starve for it." Penn now 
intervened on behalf of Mead, who ought to be liberated 
on the verdict : and as the charge was for conspiracy, he 
should be freed too, as one man cannot conspire alone. 
But the Recorder declared that Not Guilty was no ver- 
dict. He threatened to pursue Bushel with future 
vengeance, and the Lord Mayor said he would slit his nose. 
Penn intervened with a defence of the rights of Juries, 
and the Lord Mayor ordered him to be fettered and 
fastened to the ground. The Recorder longed audibly 
for the Inquisition in England, and promised a new act 
of complete outlawry for Nonconformists in the next session 
of Parliament. He then ordered the Clerk to draw up 
another verdict for the Jury to adopt ; but he said he 
did not know how. The Recorder threatened to starve 
the jury, and cart them round the city. They were sent 
upstairs again with a threat of force, and kept again with- 
out food, drink, or sanitary accommodation all night. 
At seven in the morning of Monday, the court met again ; 
and received a direct verdict of " Not guilty " from the 



56 WILLIAM PENN 

indomitable jury, now pale and weak. Each juryman 
was then compelled to give the verdict separately and 
did so. Each said " Not guilty" ; the people in the 
court were evidently delighted. Penn says they made a 
sort of hymn. Clearly bullying would not overcome this 
jury. The court then dared to tine them forty marks 
each, and send them to prison till it was paid. Penn 
and Mead accompanied them to Newgate for not paying 
their fines for contempt of Court about the hats : not 
however without a final appeal from William Penn 
to the fundamental Uberties of Englishmen from the 
Inquisition so dear to the Recorder's heart. 

Penn's defence, as it would have been given, if he had 
been allowed to give it, was pubUshed shortly afterwards, 
with a long documented criticism of the action of the 
court, based on the ancient charters. 

For two days and two nights this brave jury had 
endured the cruelty of these miserable Restoration 
magistrates. Some were in high fever, some wandered 
in their minds, from overstrain, lack of sleep and raging 
thirst. Their room had become foul. They had sup- 
ported one another in the dark hours of misery, weakness 
strengthening weakness, with the strength of an over- 
coming spirit. They did much to save trial by jury for 
the Englishmen that have followed them. Their case 
became the classic one on the independence of juries. 

Penn wrote to his father that the jury were determined 
to lie in prison till they could be legally released without 
paying their fine, and that, by advice of counsel, they 
demanded their liberty every six hours. They were 
released after a few days by the Court of Common Pleas, 
their commitment being pronounced illegal. Thus the 
final victory was won. Twelve judges, after an elaborate 
trial and notable speeches of counsel, decided unanimously 
that a jury alone is the judge of the facts, and that " the 
court may try to open the eyes of the jurors, but not to 
lead them by the nose." To Bushel and his companions 



THE 

Peoples {::-^ Liberties 

ASSERTED, 



IN THE 



T Jbv X A JL 

O F 
William Tem, and William Mead, 

At the Seflions held at the Old-Baily in London^ the 

firft, third, fourth and fifth of Sept. 70, againft 

the moft Arbitrary procedure of that Court. 



If a. 10. I, 2. fVa untoth^m that Decree Vtirighteous Decrees^ and 
write grievoufnefs ^ which they have frefcrib^d -, to tarn away the 
Needy from Judgment, and to take away the right from the Poct^ CTT . 

Pfal. 94. 20. Shall the Throne of Iniquity ha'&e fel/ow/hip with thee, 
which fraweth mifchief by a Law. 



Sicvolo, fie jubeo, flat pro ratione voluntas. 
Old-Sailyy I ft. 3d. 4tb, 5th oi Sept, 1670. 

Printed in the Year, 16^0^ 

FACSIMILE OF TITLE PAGE OF ACCOUNT OF THE FAMOUS TRIAL- 



THE RIGHTS OF JURIES 57 

Englishmen owe one of the strongholds of their freedom 
from bureaucratic tyranny. 

It is noticeable that Penn and Mead were not tried 
under the Conventicle Act. The prosecution evidently 
thought they could rely on the Common Law against 
riot. The indictment was, however, a preposterous 
document. It had the date wrong, to begin with ; it 
accused the notoriously peaceable Quakers of proceeding 
by force and by arms — it stated that there was a con- 
spiracy or arrangement under which William Penn 
was speaking, a statement which any one who knew 
Friends knew to be the exact contrary of their practice, 
under which the individual speaks wholly on his own 
initiative. 



CHAPTER VI 

Bereavement and Courtship 

Not the least of the troubles of imprisonment was the 
anxiety of William Penn to be with his father, who was 
very ill at Wanstead. We have seen what efforts the 
Admiral had made for his son's release from the Tower 
all through the long and trying spring of i66g. William's 
courage and gentle power had quite conquered his father's 
hostility. He became justly proud of the lad, however 
misguided ; and indeed the world he had served was 
turning its back upon him. A full reconciliation took 
place when Penn was released from the Tower ; and it 
was from signs that his father's health was seriously 
failing that he had come home from Ireland. Every day 
from Newgate he had written affectionate letters to him ; 
and when finally detained by the non-payment of the hat 
fine, he longed to be home, but begged his father not to 
pay the fine. This was however done, and Penn released, 
after about a week's confinement. It was reported by 
the doctors that the Admiral had not many days to live, 
and he died eleven days after the trial, on September i6th, 
1670, aged only forty-nine years. 

His last sayings were inserted by his son in the second 
edition of " No Cross, 110 Crown, " among the edifying 
utterances of the great and wise of all ages, as they summed 
up their judgment on life. The passage runs as follows : 

" My own father, after thirty years' emplo5mient, with good 
success, in divers places of eminent trust and honour in his own 
country, upon a serious reflection, not long before his death, 

50 



BEREAVEMENT AND COURTSHIP 59 

spoke to me in this manner : ' Son William, I am weary of the 
world : I would not live over my days again if I could command 
them with a wish : for the snares of life are greater than the fears 
of death. This troubles me, that I have offended a gracious God, 
that has followed me to this day. Oh, have a care of sin : that 
is the sting both of life and death. Three things I commend to 
you. First, let nothing in this world tempt you to wrong your 
conscience : I charge you do nothing against your conscience, 
so will you keep peace at home, which will be a feast to 
you in the day of trouble. Secondly, whatever you desire to 
do, lay it justly and time it seasonably ; for that gives security 
and dispatch. Lastly, be not troubled at disappointments ; for 
if they may be recovered, do it ; if they cannot, trouble is vain. 
If you could not have helped it, be content ; there is often peace 
and profit in submitting to Providence, for afflictions make wise. 
If you could have helped it, let not your trouble exceed instruction 
for another time ; these rules will carry you with firmness and 
comfort through this inconstant world.' At another time he in- 
veighed against the profaneness and impiety of the age ; often 
crying out, with an earnestness of spirit, ' Woe to thee, O England ! 
God will judge thee, O England ! Plagues are at thy door, O 
England ! ' He much bewailed that divers men in power, and 
many of the nobility and gentry of the kingdom, were grown so 
dissolute and profane ; often saying, ' God has forsaken us ; we 
are infatuated ; we will shut our eyes ; we will not see our true 
interests and happiness ; we shall be destroyed ! Apprehending 
the consequences of the growing looseness of the age to be our 
ruin, and that the methods most fit to serve the kingdom with 
true credit, at home and abroad, were too much neglected, the 
trouble of which did not a Httle help to feed his distemper, which 
drew him daily nearer to his end : and as he believed it, so less 
concerned or disordered, I never saw him at any time ; of which 
I took good notice : wearied to live as well as near to die he took 
his leave of us, and of me, with this expression, and a most com- 
posed countenance : ' Son William, if you and 3'our friends keep 
to your plain way of preaching, and keep to your plain way of 
living, you will make an end of the priests to the end of the 
world. Bury me by my mother ; live all in love : shun all 
manner of evil : and I pray God to bless you all ; and He will 
bless you." 



6o WILLIAM PENN 

There is a monument to his memory in the church of 
S. Mary Redclyffe, Bristol, erected by his widow. 

One of the consequences of the trial of Penn and Mead 
was a controversy, of the violent type then expected, 
between William Penn and a certain S. S. (Was it Sir 
Samuel Starling the Lord Mayor?). Penn published a 
full account of the trial with extensive comment, which 
went through two editions the first year. S. S. wrote 
an answer. Penn wrote in reply, " Truth rescued from 
Imposture, or a brief reply to a mere rhapsody of lies, 
folly and slander ; but a pretended answer to ' The Trial 
of William Penn and William Mead,' writ and subscribed 
S. S. — by a professed enemy to oppression W. P." 

Part III. of this book is a " Defence of my deceased 
father's reputation from the false and unworthy reflect- 
tions of this scandalous libeller." The opponent S. S. 
had made much of Admiral's Penn's record as a servant 
both of the Protectorate and the Monarchy. His son 
replies that he was not a political partisan, but a defender 
of his country under all rulers against foreign enemies. 
S. S. ascribes his rapid promotion to his zeal in producing 
" The Instrument of Government," which gave Oliver 
the Protectorship. William Penn shows that dates are 
all against this ; and that under Oliver only ability 
caused promotion. Next the Admiral is blamed wrong- 
fully for the defeat at Hispaniola, which was a land 
battle under Vcnables ; in fact the sailors rescued the 
soldiers from destruction on that occasion. Next come 
charges of plunder and peculation easily rebutted, and a 
testimony to the Admiral's honesty in his country's 
service, with definite instances given. After saying that 
S. S. (whose identity he did not appear to know) " showed 
a greater want of humanity than I was willing to think 
the debauchery of our age had reduced any man to," 
he quaintly concludes, " I wish him repentance of these 
impieties and sincerely declare my hearty forgiveness of 
all his aggravating injuries." Thus did grace in the end 



BEREAVEMENT AND COURTSHIP 6i 

mix itself with calling a spade a very decided spade. 
To anticipate a little, one may add that this tract also was 
written from prison. 

Pepys's Diary is sprinkled with allusions to Admiral 
Penn, These allusions are all hostile. Penn is called a 
rogue in various forms of speech, throughout this self- 
revealing private record. But nevertheless there was 
the greatest outward friendship, which Pepys tells his 
Diary it was his interest to keep up for social reasons. 
Altogether it is an unpleasing picture of an acquaintance- 
ship in that bad Restoration society ; and we cannot 
take Pepys's opinion of Sir William Penn as reliable. 
Penn had interfered with Pepys's illegal professional 
pickings. 

He would seem to have been a very able, rather 
worldly man who took the colour of his political surround- 
ings, but in his later years of misfortune and weakness 
had the grace to see in the end the beauty of holiness 
when it unexpectedly intruded into his family. 

Subject to Lady Penn's Hfe interest he left the bulk of 
his property to his son William, whom he made sole 
executor. Margaret had had her portion, Richard died 
three years after, and the portion left to him then fell 
in also to WiUiam. 

His lands in Ireland and England brought in £1,500 a 
year,* ; now worth in real value several times as much. 
He had a claim on the Crown for loans and arrears of 
salary of iri5,ooo. He had also sundry other claims in 
Jamaica and in Spain, of doubtful value, and never 
realised. 

Knowing how vulnerable to attack was property in 
the hands of an uncompromising young Quaker, the 
father wrote from his deathbed to the King and his 
brother James, asking them to continue to his son the 
kindness they had shown to him. The Duke of York in 

* Clarkson. H. M. Jenkins apparently thinks this too much 
(p. 47, of Family of William Penn.) 



62 WILLIAM PENN 

reply accepted the duty of guardian and protector in 
William Penn's estate and business affairs. 

The Quaker propaganda must have required, and we 
know that it received, a good deal of money. To it 
chiefly this access of income went till a greater use 
appeared. 

The record of this eventful year 1670 is yet far from 
finished. The new faith gave its prophets no rest. 
William Penn had a public controversy at West 
Wycomb in Bucks. An attack on Friends and their 
teaching by a Baptist minister provoked a challenge to 
a public debate from Penn. The subject in dispute was 
the Universality of the Divine Light. Jeremy Ives, the 
minister's " brother," appeared, and delivered a prepared 
speech. Then — contrary to all good form — he departed 
with all who would follow, without hearing the reply. 
But most of the people very naturally stayed behind, and 
appeared satisfied and friendly. A return by Ives, to 
reproach the people for stajdng, concluded the affair.* 
One cannot imagine crowds attending a discussion on such 
a subject now. 

In November Penn was at Oxford, and found a cruel 
persecution going on there against Friends ; ragging by 
undergraduates being connived at by the authorities. 
He wrote a very hot letter to the Vice Chancellor about it, 
declaring the divine vengeance. " Poor mushroom, 
wilt thou war against the Lord, and lift up thyself in 
battle against the Almighty." No notice was taken by the 
mushroom. The upbraidings in the letter, however, were 
not too severe. The Vice Chancellor carried on a miserable 
spy system. He employed men to go among the Nonconfor- 
mists, pretending unity with them, and then, having heard 
them talk freely, to prosecute them for their unsuspecting 
words. Nothing could be more contrary to all decent 
University instincts. But at this time the Universities were 
denominational colleges, and these Quakers and Baptists, 

♦ See " Life of Thomas Ellwood." 



BEREAVEMENT AND COURTSHIP 63 

advocating a lay ministry based not on learning but on 
inspiration, endangered the whole craft with which the 
place was identified. Both the Universities were fierce 
against Friends. 

During that winter William Penn lived quietly for a 
time at Penn in Buckinghamshire, and became a frequent 
visitor at the home of Isaac Penington. From this visit 
much followed later, of a happier kind than the dread 
ceaseless struggle for truth, and for the liberty of the human 
soul, which consumed at present his whole energies and 
fills the story of his life. At present we must follow the 
holy war. He wrote in the country at this time " A 
Seasonable Caveat against Popery." That it was 
seasonable we know from history. Charles II., that very 
year, had concluded with His Catholic Majesty Louis XIV. 
of France, the secret Treaty of Dover, subordinating 
English foreign policy to Louis's designs upon his 
Protestant neighbours, and containing a clause that 
Charles would at an appropriate time confess his Roman- 
ism, and be supported, by a French army if necessary, 
against an English revolt. The Caveat was as thorough- 
going an attack as the author's other works ; but it had 
the peculiarity of demanding toleration for the persons 
who held these pernicious beliefs. Catholicism was 
the enemy, not Catholics. This was the Quaker position, 
and a generation later it became the national practice, 
with some exceptions in the way of religious disabilities 
and privileges. 

So the end of this crowded year 1670, with its imprison- 
ments, controversies, bereavement, and literary labours, 
came at last with a few weeks of peace, in which arose the 
dawning of the greatest event of all in a young man's hfe. 

From the crowd and noise of London we now pass to 
the old world villages which nestle among the wooded 
uplands looking down on the Thames valley near Windsor. 
Both for marriage and for burial our far-roaming spiritual 
adventurer and statesman drew to this secluded spot in 



64 WILLIAM PENN 

quiet English woodlands, and there our memories of 
him centre. 

Our story will end in the graveyard at the ancient 
meeting-house at Jordans. But it was for completeness 
of life that the battered young warrior came down to 
Buckinghamshire. He stayed at his ancestral village 
of Penn, but his interests were mainly with the household 
of Isaac Penington. The Penington's home had been 
at the Grange, a modest mansion at Chalfont St. Peter, 
still standing. But in 1665 they had been turned out 
by the Duke of Grafton, at a time when Isaac Penington 
was in gaol, and the family had been scattered, and 
lived for some years in an unsettled condition. At 
the time of this visit, at the end of 1670, Isaac Penington 
was in gaol at Reading. He had gone thither to visit 
Friends in prison, and Sir William Armoner had thought 
it humorous to keep him there for a year and three quarters, 
till the King's Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 brought 
his series of six imprisonments to an end. 

The family consisted of Isaac Penington, his wife 
Mary, and three little children, and his beautiful step- 
daughter, Gulielma Maria Springett, aged twenty-six. 

Isaac Penington, now a man of fifty-four, was, with 
Fox, Barclay and Penn, one of the four outstanding 
leaders of the Quaker reformation. He was not one of the 
earliest band of " First Publishers " of 1652. It was not 
till 1658, at the great meetings at John Crook's in Bedford 
shire, that George Fox had pointed to him the way to 
spiritual freedom and power. Like Fox, Barclay and 
Penn, from his earliest childhood he had been religious. 
Like the other Quaker reformers he too had had 
a long and " sorely distressed " period of spiritual 
unsettlement, " I could not be satisfied with the things 
of this perishing world, which naturally pass away, but I 
desired true sense of, and unity with, that which abideth 
for ever." " But I was exceedingly entangled about 
election and reprobation." He joined one of the many 








(See note page 331) 



BEREAVEMENT AND COURTSHIP 65 

sects of the time, each anxiously trying to follow more 
closely the letter of the Scripture than the others, and so 
reach ultimate truth. But his religious genius and his 
critical faculty remained unsatisfied, and, throwing up the 
outward observances of rehgion, he mingled with the 
world for a while, though not of it. His prospects there, 
like Penn's, were excellent. His father was Alderman 
Penington, one of the " Parliament Grandees," High 
Sheriff of London, member for the City in the Long 
Parliament, Lord Mayor, Governor of the Tower, Member 
of the High Court of Justice which tried the King. He 
was knighted by the Speaker and became a member of the 
Council of State which controlled the Commonwealth. 
He represented finance in the Roundhead party, and was 
their means of communication with the City and its loans. 
He was thus a convinced Puritan and Parliament man ; 
and his son's adoption of Quakerism just when his 
party's fortunes were sinking, was a great grief to him ; 
though for far other reasons than those which troubled the 
professional soldier Sir William Penn, who was essentially 
Royalist and " of the world." 

Alderman Penington, whose name was also Isaac, 
died in the Tower soon after the Restoration, under cruel 
imprisonment, having, with other regicides, surrendered 
on Charles's proclamation of clemency. 

When Isaac Penington the younger, was wandering 
in the arid fields of society, unable to find a religion, he 
met there a young widow, Lady Springett, who was in 
exactly similar case, and they were married in 1654. 
Guli was then a child of ten. She had been born a few 
weeks after the death of her father, Sir William Springett, 
of Darling, in Sussex, a Puritan commander who suc- 
cumbed to an attack of fever at the siege of Arundel 
Castle in February, 1643-4, in the second year of the civil 
war. Lady Springett, as an orphan heiress, daughter of 
Sir John Proud, had been brought up with the young 
Springetts. She had been born in Holland. Like other 



66 WILLIAM PENN 

characters in this history Mary Proud was earnestly 
rehgious in an original way in childhood, discovered 
the futility of formal prayer, refused prayers out of 
books, tried to write some for herself, then grew out 
of that, and went great distances, thought unsuitable 
for a girl and undesirable for an heiress, to hear a Puritan 
preacher named Wilson, one of the sectaries then so 
numerous. From the domestic friction which ensued, 
William Springett, then a law student in London, res- 
cued her by a youthful marriage. He was knighted by the 
King in early manhood. The young couple had given up 
the use of hymns, as insincere, and when their first child 
was born, the aristocratic father created a county sensa- 
tion by refusing to have it baptised by the priest, but 
carried it in his arms five miles to Wilson, the deprived 
Puritan preacher, and held it himself to be baptised. Be- 
fore he died, he abandoned both ordinances altogether. 
This was before George Fox had begun his mission. It 
shows that his teaching was in the air, and had been 
reached independently by kindred souls.* Gulielma 
Maria, born shortly after her father's death, was never 
baptised. 

The family fortunes of the Peningtons had collapsed 
at the Restoration. But Mary Penington retained her 
father's inheritance, and during her husband's six 
imprisonments managed the business affairs of the family. 
These early Friends were never safe from sudden arrest, 
legal or illegal. Isaac Penington, unlike his best known 
colleagues, was not a travelling preacher. He was 
chiefly an author, and a selection from his voluminous 
works gives forcibly still the deep mystical teaching 
round which Quakerism gathered. He was its central, 
typical exponent in print, and his works are still not 
neglected. 

* A fuller account of the early history of Mary Penington was 
written by her for her grandson, Springett Penn.and is printed in Joseph 
Gurney Sevan's Memoirs of Isaac Penington, and in Maria Webb's 
" Penns and Peningtons of the Seventeenth Century." 



BEREAVEMENT AND COURTSHIP 67 

But our interest at the moment is where William 
Penn's was. Gull Springett had refused a crowd of 
suitors. Her beauty and charm, added to her considerable 
estate, had attracted many neighbouring young gentle- 
men, not Friends. But when William Penn appeared, 
handsomer, stronger than them all, incomparably wiser 
and braver than any young man she had seen, fresh from 
his sufferings and his victories for their common faith, 
the young people found one another at once. They met 
first early in 1668, when she was twenty-four and he 
six months younger.* We do not know whether an 
attachment began then ; but Maria Webb (p. 172) 
notices with woman's instinct that it was just after that 
that Thomas Ellwood felt that he should find a wife 
elsewhere. We get a delightful account of Guli in the 
autobiography of Thomas Ellwood. He was a scholarly 
young gentleman, the son of a neighbouring landowner. 
He had become a Friend, with the usual home opposition. 
He was often at the Grange, and had for seven years, 
from 1662 till his marriage in 1669, undertaken the 
education of the children, and given lessons also to Guli. 
He felt however that she was not for him, but was 
reserved for someone more worthy, and with nobility and 
resignation he tells of the coming of him for whom she 
was reserved. Thomas Ellwood was afterwards the 
editor of George Fox's Journal. He also wrote a 
number of tedious poems, but his autobiography is an 
authentic and delightful source of our knowledge. It is 
in Morley's Universal Library, and in another excellent 
modern edition edited by S. Graveson.f Ellwood figures 
in every history of English literature, as the friend, pupil, 
and secretary of Milton. They were particularly intimate 
when the poet lived at Chalfont St. Giles during the year 
of the Plague. Ellwood tells us that he found the 
cottage for him, " a pretty box a mile from me." He 
had the wonderful fortune of reading " Paradise Lost " 

* " Penns and Peningtons," p. 180. \ Headley Brothers. 



68 WILLIAM PENN 

in manuscript ; and it was he who asked Milton, " Thou 
hast told us much about Paradise lost, what hast thou to 
say about Paradise found ? " a suggestion which bore more 
fruit than most. Milton, when handing him his second 
poem, on the temptation of Christ, said it was due 
to his words. Thus we owe " Paradise Regained," as 
well as the current edition of Fox's Journal, and Guli's 
peace of mind, to the modest tutor of the young Pening- 
tons. He lived all his life near Jordans and Chalfont, 
and remained always a valued friend of William and 
Guli Penn. 

Ellwood spent some years of childhood in London, to 
which his father had removed for safety during the first 
civil war. There they made the acquaintance of Lady 
Springett, newly widowed, and Ellwood says " I became 
an early and particular playfellow to her daughter Guli ; 
being admitted as such to ride with her in her little coach 
drawn by her footman about Lincoln's Inn Fields." 
So the lifelong friendship began at the perambulator 
period. The next meeting was in 1659, when Ellwood 
was twenty and Guli fifteen. Ellwood and his father 
went to pay their friends, now Isaac and Mary Penington, 
a visit, on their coming to live at the Grange, Chalfont, 
about fifteen miles from their own home at Crowell. 
They were astounded to find they had turned Quaker, 
whatever that might be. 

" So great change from a free, debonair and courtly sort of 
behaviour to so strict a gravity as they now received us with, did 
not a little amuse us, and disappoint our expectation of such a 
pleasant visit as we used to have, and had now promised our- 
selves. For my part I sought and at length found means to cast 
myself into the company of the daughter, whom I found gather- 
ing some flowers in the garden, attended by her maid. But 
when I addressed myself to her, though she treated me with a 
courteous mien, yet (young as she was), the gravity of her look 
and behaviour struck such an awe upon me, that I found myself 
not so much master of myself as to pursue any further converse 



BEREAVEMENT AND COURTSHIP 69 

with her. Wherefore, asking pardon for my boldness in having 
intruded myself into her private walks, I withdrew, not without 
some disorder of mind." 

" We stayed dinner, which was very handsome, and lacked 
nothing to recommend it to me, but the want of mirth and 
pleasant discourse." 

The next visit, however, was the means of Ellwood's 
own conversion to Quakerism, and he became, from 
1662, an inmate of the Peningtons' home as tutor. He 
writes : 

" While thus I remained in this Family, various Suspicions 
arose in the Minds of some concerning me with respect to Mary 
Penington's fair Daughter Guli. For she having now arrived 
at a Marriageable Age, and being in all respects a very 
desirable Woman, (whether regard was had to her outward 
Person, which wanted nothing to render her completely Comely, 
or to the Endowments of her mind, which were every way Extra- 
ordinary and highly Obliging, or to her outward Fortune, which 
was fair, and which with some hath not the last nor the least place 
in Consideration), she was openly and secretly sought and solicited 
by many, and some of them almost of every rank and condition : 
good and Bad, Rich and Poor, Friend and Foe. To whom, in 
their respective turns, (till he at length came for whom she was 
reserved), she carried herself with so much evenness of Temper, 
such courteous Freedom, guarded with the strictest Modesty, that 
as it gave Encouragement or grounds of Hope to none, so neither 
did it minister any matter of Offence or just Cause of Com- 
plaint to any. But such as were thus engaged for themselves or 
desirous to make themselves Advocates for others, could not, 
I observed, but look upon me with an Eye of Jealousie and Fear, 
that I would improve the Opportunities I had by frequent and 
familiar Conversation with her, to my own Advantage, in working 
myself into her good Opinion and Favour, to the Ruin of their 

Pretences." 

****** 

" Some others, measuring me by the Propensity of their own 

Inclinations, concluded I would steal her, run away with her, and 

Marry her ; which they thought I might be the more easily 

induced to do, from the advantageous opportunities I frequently 



70 WILLIAM PENN 

had of riding and walking abroad with her, by Night as well as 
by Day, without any other company than her Maid." 
****** 

" I was not ignorant of the various Fears which filled the 

jealous Heads of some concerning me, neither was I so stupid, 

nor so divested of all humanity, as not to be sensible of the real 

and innate Worth and Vertue which adorned that excellent 

Dame, and attracted the Eyes and Hearts of so many, with the 

greatest Importunity to seek and solicit her ; nor was I so devoid 

of Natural Heat, as not to feel some Sparklings of Desire, as well 

as others. But the force of Truth and Sense of Honour supprest 

whatever would have arisen beyond the bounds of fair and 

vertuous Friendship." 

****** 

" Wherefore, having observed how some others had befool'd 
themselves, by misconstruing her common Kindness (expressed 
in an innocent, open, free, and familiar Conversation, springing 
form the abundant Affability, Courtesy, and Sweetness of her 
natural Temper), to be the Effect of a singular Regard and 
peculiar Affection to them, I resolved to shun the Rock, on which 
I had seen so many run and spUt ; and remembering that saying 
of the Poet : 

' Felix quem faciunt aliena Pericula cautum, 
Happy's He 
Whom others' Dangers wary make to be.' 
I governed myself in a free yet respectful Carriage towards her, 
that I thereby both preserved a fair Reputation with my Friends 
and Enjoyed as much of her Favour and Kindness, in a virtuous 
and firm Friendship, as was fit for her to show or for me to seek."* 
Ellwood's account of his defence of Guli from rough 
soldiers on the road, by skilful horsemanship, in 1669, 
is very entertaining. He acted as business manager for 
her in dealing with her tenants ; and in 1682, when she 
had been married ten years, she fell ill when her husband 
was in America, and sent for their friend Thomas Ellwood 
to support and advise her as of old. The whole story is 
a beautiful idyll, and a charming Quaker interior, in 
strong relief from the stormy exterior events which fill 
the biography of William Penn. 

* Autobiography, pp. 181-6. 



CHAPTER VII 

Newgate 

On the 5th of February, 1671 (new style), we find 
William Penn in London again, suffering from the machi- 
nations of Sir Samuel Starling the Lord Mayor, and Sir 
John Robinson the Governor of the Tower, whom Pepys 
calls a "bufflehead" and a "loggerhead." He attended 
meeting at Wheeler Street, and was arrested by a picket of 
soldiers as he rose to speak, and taken to the Tower. But 
the authorities now had a trick which did not need 
the support of a jury whom they could not count 
on. If you cannot gaol a Quaker in any other way, 
you present to him the oath of allegiance to the king. 
He cannot take an oath of any kind, and will refuse 
to do so, though loyal to the king. You can then 
send him to gaol easily. This suffering by Friends for 
apparent disloyalty of which they had none, because they 
were against all oaths, is a parallel to the reproach for 
want of patriotism, to which they are liable in time of 
war, when they are as patriotic as other people, but are 
against all war. This trick, which constantly assisted 
the Quaker persecutions, they determined to try on 
William Penn. 

After three hours in the guard room at the Tower he 
was taken upstairs to the Governor, Starling also being 
present, and others. But the public were carefully 
excluded, as experience recommended. The prisoner 
was examined by Robinson, who began by insolently 
pretending not to know him, though he had been under his 

71 



72 WILLIAM PENN 

charge in the Tower for eight months, and they had met 
recently in the Lord Mayor's court at the Old Bailey. 
It then appeared that the court did not proceed under the 
Conventicle Act, but under the Five Mile Act, by which 
Nonconformist ministers were to be forbidden to reside 
within five miles of a corporate town. The Lord Mayor 
had apparently not realised that neither his prisoner nor 
any other Friend was an official or ordained minister, 
to whom alone the Act applied. To cut short this diffi- 
culty, the Court demanded that the accused should take 
the oath of allegiance. The usual consequence followed 
from his refusal. He was sent to Newgate for six months. 
The verbatim report of the trial is in all the Lives of Penn ; 
it was utterly undignified on the part of the Court, 
brilliant and courageous on Penn's side. These trials 
give one the lowest idea of English public life at this 
degraded time. Penn's final address ran :— 

" I would have thee and all other men to know that I scorn 
that religion which is not worth suffering for, and able to sustain 
those that are afflicted for it ; mine is, and whatever may be my 
lot for my constant profession of it I am nowise careful, but 
resigned to answer the will of God, by the loss of goods, liberty, 
and life itself. When you have all, you can have no more ; and 
then, perhaps, you will be contented, and by that you will be 
better informed of our innocency. Thy religion persecutes, 
and mine forgives ; and I desire my God to forgive you all that 
are concerned in my commitment, and I leave you all in perfect 
charity, wishing your everlasting salvation. 

" Robinson. — Send a corporal with a file of musketeers along 
with him. 

" Penn. — No, no, send thy lacquey ; I know the way to 
Newgate." 

No biography of William Penn would be complete 
Without some description of the Newgate of his day. 
Thomas Ellwood gives the following account of it in his 
'* Autobiography." 



NEWGATE 73 

" The common side of Newgate is generally accounted, as it 
really is, the Worst Part of that Prison ; not so much from the 
Place, as the People : it being usually stocked from the veriest 
Rogues and meanest sort of Felons and Pick-Pockets, who, not 
being able to pay Chamber-Rent on the Master's Side, are thrust 
in there. And if they come in Bad, to be sure they do not go out 
better : for here they have the opportunity to instruct one 
another in their Art, and impart to each other what Improvements 
they have made therein. 

" The Common Hall is a good Place to walk in, when the 
Prisoners are out of it (saving the danger of catching some Cattle, 
which they may have left in it) : and there I used to walk in a 
Morning before they were let up, and sometimes in the Day 
time when they have been there. 

" We had the liberty of the Hall (which is on the first story 
over the gate, and which in the daytime is common to all the 
prisoners on that side, felons as well as others, to walk in, and to 
beg out of), and we had also the liberty of some other rooms over 
the Hall to walk or to work in a-days ; but in the night we all 
lodged in one room, which was large and round, having in the 
middle of it a great pillar of oaken timber, which bore up the 
chapel that is over it. To this pillar we fastened our hammocks 
at one end, and to the opposite wall on the other end, quite round 
the room, and in three degrees or three stories high, one over the 
other ; so that they who lay in the upper and middle row of 
hammocks were obliged to go to bed first, because they were to 
climb up to the higher by getting into the lower ; and under the 
lower rank of hammocks, by the wall sides, were laid beds upon 
the floor, in which the sick and such weak persons as could not get 
into the hammocks lay ; and indeed, though the room was large 
and pretty airy, yet the breath and steam that came from so many 
bodies of different ages, conditions, and constitutions, packed up 
so close together, was enough to cause sickness amongst us, and 
I believe did so, for there were many sick, and some very weak. 
Though we were not long there, yet in that time one of our fellow 
prisoners, who lay in one of those pallet-beds, died. 

" A coroner's inquest being held over the body of the deceased, 
one of the jury insisted upon being shown the room where he 
died ; this was granted by the keeper with great reluctance, and 
when the jury came to the door, the foreman who led them, lifting 



74 WILLIAM PENN 

up liis hands said, ' Lord bless me, what a sight is here ? I did 
not think there had been so much cruelty in the hearts of English- 
men, to use Englishmen in this manner ! We need not now 
question, (said he to the rest of the jury), how this man came by 
his death : we may rather wonder that they are not all dead, for 
this place is enough to breed an infection among them." .... 

" I have sometimes occasionally been in the Hall in an Evening 
and have seen the Whores let in unto them (which I take to be a 
common Practice) : Nasty sluts indeed they were, and in that 
respect the more suitable. And as I have passed by them, I 
have heard the Rogues and them making their Bargains, which 
and which of them should Company together that Night. Which 
abominable Wickedness must be imputed to the Dishonesty of 
the Turnkeys ; who, for vile Gain to themselves, not only suffer 
but further this Lewdness. 

" These are some of the common Evih, which make the 
Common Side of Newgate in measure a Type of Hell upon Earth. 
But there was, at that time, something of another Nature, more 
Particular and Accidental, which was very Offensive to me. 

" When we came first into Newgate, there lay (in a little By- 
place like a Closet, near the room where we were Lodged) the 
Quartered Booies of three men, who had been Executed some 
days before, for a real or pretended Plot : which was the ground 
or at least Pretext, for that Storm in the City, which had caused 
this Imprisonment. The Names of these three men were Philips, 
Tongue and Gibs : and the Reason why their Quarters lay so long 
there was. The Relations were all that while Petitioning to have 
leave to bury them : which at length, with much ado, was obtained 
for the Quarters, but not for the Heads, which were Ordered 
to be set up in some parts of the City. 

" I saw the Heads when they were brought up to be Boyled. 
The Hangman fetch'd them in a dirty Dust Basket, out of some 
By-Place, and setting them down amongst the Felons, he and they 
made Sport with them. They took them by the Hair, Flouting, 
Jeering, and Laughing at them : and then giving them some ill 
names, box'd them on the Ears and Cheeks. Which done, the 
Hangman put them into his Kettle, and parboyl'd them with 
Bay-Salt and Cummin-Seed : that to keep them from Putre- 
faction, and this to keep off the Fowls from seizing on them. 
The whole Sight (as well that of the Bloody Quarters first, as this 



NEWGATE 75 

of the Heads afterwards) was both frightful and loathsom, and 
begat an Abhorrence in my Nature. Which as it had rendered 
my Confinement there by much the more uneasie, so it made our 
removal from thence to Bridewell, even in that respect, the more 
welcome." 

Penn and his friends had hired lodgings on the other 
side of the gaol, but the ill treatment and abuse they 
received from the gaolers caused them, as a testimony, to 
go into " the common stinking gaol, among the felons." 
He wrote a complaint to the Sheriff of London about it. 

William Penn pointed out to Robinson and Starling at 
the trial that imprisonment would only have the effect of 
making the sufferer more conspicuous and influential. 
It might also have been pointed out to them that they 
were giving him the leisure to write books. During the 
half year in Newgate he was busy with " The Great Case 
of Liberty of Concience," a vigorous defence of Toleration, 
then a novelty: " Truth Rescued from Imposture," the 
work quoted above on Sir William Penn, " A Serious 
Apology for Quakers," and several shorter manifestoes. 

When WilHam Penn was released in August, he went 
over to Holland and Germany, not, as one might suppose, 
to recuperate, or not wholly so, for he was preaching 
the Quaker gospel all the time. Our knowledge of this 
short journey is derived from incidental allusions taken 
from his own account of his travels in Holland and 
Germany in 1677, by which time there was evidently 
quite a widespread organisation of the Society in that 
part of the continent. We may remember that William 
Penn's mother had Dutch connections, and that he could 
speak both Low and High German, that is both Dutch 
and what we now call German. A letter which he wrote 
after his return, to Dr. Haesbert, of Embden, shows that 
that town on the estuary of the Ems was a place where he 
found scope for his gospel. The letter to Dr. Haesbert 
shows that, as ever, Quakerism was an appeal from theo- 
logical belief and ritual form to inward experience. 



76 WILLIAM PENN 

" This thou must expect from the carnal fleshly and 
historical Christian of the outward courts and suburbs 
of religion, who is an enemy to the spiritual seed that sees 
to the end of all meats, drinks, washings, figures and 
bodily exercises." The letter is really a sermon, like most 
of the epistles of the time. The only personal allusion is 
in a postcript, " My love is to thy wife, and salute me 
kindly to those who were at Meeting when I was at 
Embden." 

Penn paid a visit, which must have interested him 
a good deal, to a little group of Catholic sectaries under 
the leadership of De Labadie, who had left the Catholic 
Church in revolt against formalities, and had joined the 
French Protestants ; but their Calvinistic doctrine was not 
more satisfactory to a seeking mystic, so with a few 
disciples he moved into Holland, where there was toler- 
ation for religious opinions ; there he carried on a 
controversy against the clerical systems about him, so that 
he had once more to flee, and found protection at the 
Court of Princess Elisabeth of the Rhine at Herwerden. 
Here William Penn found him. But De Labadie gave 
Penn no opportunity to influence any of his flock. This 
intrusion of personal jealousy into a lofty mysticism 
struck Penn unfavourably. " I saw the airiness and 
unstableness of the man's spirit and that a sect master 
was his name," "and it was upon me, both by word of 
mouth and by writing, that the enemy would prevail 
against them to draw them into inconvenient things, if they 
came not to be stayed in the light of Jesus Christ and to 
know the holy silence." Penn records later that this did 
happen to them. Miscarriages fell out at Herwerden and 
they removed to the north of Holland to the mansion 
house of the Somerdyke family. Penn says, " Yea, they 
were something angelical and like to the celestial bodies, 
yet if they kept not their station they would prove fallen 
stars." Great indeed in all ages have been the dangers 
in the path of spiritual research. 



~-^4 



(^^ -V.'-A r,/ d^i /^y,J ^^fi- M*-^'^J^* /Xi- y^..,A, 
I^ r-^iiU/ ^^A^Ji*" ,K?,wO-W /CS^r <J ^■^■■/'a4,.-^ ^-.f' _". 



^^, ..J 



■y^ 



^ /- ,- '1., ,0 • "' . - /• 




\'^ ^ r f ■ 



C^i.'tJ'^ y^^-^^A c//j^^/:, -/V/; .:'-..^.Arf^/^-- f-^ "-^ 

'/^,^-|Aj(C /-^* i»~-nt e.M^j^,„ ^,.«^/vi^<^>- r^U~^^.i'j '^ trt^'yf'^^J 



c^ Vi i,«. i^v/;*^ v/X'z-v*/. ; 



•f 



^^/r 



c/. 



«y^<i 



^v 









CUU.Lm'. T' '''""'°' CERTIK.CATE OF W.L.AM AND 

CULIELMA M. PENN. ,N THOMAS ELLWOOD'S HANDWRITING 

Reproduced from original at Somerset House. 



NEWGATE 77 

The continental journey was most of it travel through 
" a very dark country," " under a great weight and suffer- 
ing in my spirit." It seems to have lasted only a few 
months, after which he returned to his beloved friends near 
Chalfont. He and Guli were married on April 4th, 1672, 
and established themselves in a country home at Basing 
House, Rickmansworth, six miles from Chalfont. Their 
marriage took place at King's Farm, Chorleywood, a fine 
old timbered building, a portion of which is still standing.* 
It was the beginning of some months of rest and happiness 
such as the stormy life of a Quaker apostle had never yet 
permitted him. The King's Declaration of Indulgence, 
which stopped the Quaker persecution for a time, came 
just when the young people were settling down in their 
lovely country home to the earliest days of wedded 
happiness. In the beautiful advice to his children which 
William Penn wrote long after Guli was dead, he says that 
she loved him with a deep and upright love, choosing him 
before all her many suitors. The congenial task of esta- 
blishing a home occupied his unresting spirit till 
September, when he went on a journey in the ministry in 
the -counties of Kent, Sussex and Surrey, holding meetings 
at twenty-one different places in three weeks, a task more 
serious in those days of riding and driving than now. 
The journey seems to have been a very fruitful one. 
Penn writes : " And thus hath the Lord been with us in 
all our travels for truth, and in His blessing of peace are 
we returned, which is a blessing beyond all worldly 
treasure." 



* The farm has of late years been renovated and much added to 
by the Hon. Arthur Capell, who has taken a great interest in the Penn 
associations of the district. 



CHAPTER VIII 

A Quaker Apostle in Controversy 

1672-1675 

We have now reached the autumn of 1672, and though 
William Penn was still only twenty-eight we may think 
of him as a mature and established personality. His 
convictions had taken their lifelong form, and had borne 
the test of Newgate and the Tower, as well as the harder 
conflict with family affection. He had now put the world 
well behind him, and had entered on the stormy and 
adventurous career of a Quaker apostle. He was happily 
married and settled in life, and a little family was grow- 
ing up around the parents' knees at Basing House. 
For anything that he knew, he was now embarking 
on the business of his life, a business of constant battle. 
These years were at any rate filled, like the Iliad, with 
war, and he could not know that the more famous 
Odyssey was yet to be written concerning the seas and the 
shores of the West. Taking together the next three 
years, we find him constantly travelling in the ministry, 
accompanied at the beginning of the time by his helpful 
and charming wife. But besides the nervous energy 
perpetually expended in preaching, he was always carrying 
on printed controversy. During this time he wrote no 
fewer than twenty-six books and pamphlets, some, as we 
shall see, of great length, and all full of matter. They 
included two political works, " A Treatise on Oaths," 
and " England's Present Interest Considered." The 

78 



A QUAKER APOSTLE IN CONTROVERSY y()J 

Declaration of Indulgence of 1672 had the effect of letting 
controversy loose between Friends and the other Non- 
eonformist churches. During the period of imprisonment 
the latter had followed the dictates of what they called 
Christian prudence, and if they held their meetings at all 
they held them out of sight, at places and times where it 
was quite easy for any, except a very zealous official, to 
know nothing about them. Friends, however, had no 
mind to follow their example. Their meetings had been 
held ostentatiously at the usual place and time. If they 
were kept out of the Meeting House, they held it in the 
street. If the Meeting House was destroyed they met 
among the ruins. If all the grown-up people were put 
in prison the children held the meeting by themselves. 
On Friends, therefore, had fallen the brunt of the 
Anglican attack. Under their shelter the Presbyterian, 
the Baptist, and the Independent had escaped. All this 
had naturally led to an increase of the Society at the 
expense of the other denominations, a state of things sure 
to produce acrid controversy, and William Penn was now 
a leading swordsman in the fray. Joseph Besse rightly 
says that " he never turned his back in the day of battle." 
The controversy with Thomas Hicks, at the beginning of 
1673, was the most important of these, and well worth 
treating in full. Others may be briefly summarised. 

An anonymous author wrote The Spirit of the 
Quakers Tried, and Penn answered with The Spirit of 
Truth Vindicated. The eccentric visionaries, Ludovic 
Muggleton and John Reeve (the latter comparing himself to 
Moses, as the recipient of revelations which he was bidden 
to communicate to Muggleton, whom he compared to 
Aaron) were making much stir at this time, and were 
often confused with Friends, probably wilfully, by the 
Government. They would hardly have made this mistake 
if they had read William Penn's letter to " Ludovic 
Muggleton, an Accuser of the Brethren, False Prophet 
and Impostor (though otherwise an adversary of little 



8o WILLIAM PENN 

moment)." John Morse, of Watford, received a reply 
to his defamations in a book called Plain Dealing 
with a Traducing Anabaptist. Henry Hedworth wrote a 
paper called Controversy Ended, provoking from William 
Penn in answer A Winding-sheet for Controversy Ended. 
John Faldo, an Independent preacher near Barnet, 
gradually losing his congregation, wrote, not unnaturally, 
a book called Quakerism no Christianity. Penn replied in 
Quakerism a new Nickname for Old Christianity. Faldo 
followed with A Vindication and Penn rejoined with 
The Invalidity of John Faldo's Vindication. Faldo then 
sent William Penn a challenge to an intellectual combat, 
to which Penn replied. Faldo then published A Curb to 
William Penn's Confidence, and Penn responded with 
A Return to John Faldo's Reply, and so got the last word. 
Henry Halliwell wrote An Account of Familism as it is 
revised and propagated by the Quake) s. This was, of course, 
a slander, and Penn published a treatise entitled Wisdom 
Justified of Her Children. We have not, however, quite 
done with Faldo, for " One and Twenty Learned and 
Reverend Divines " wrote a commendatory preface to a 
new edition of Faldo's book Quakerism no Christianity. 
Penn in response gave A Just Rebuke to One and Twenty 
Learned and Reverend Divines, with a vigorous preface. 
Samuel Grevil, a priest near Banbury, published a dis- 
course against the testimony of the Light Within, to which 
William Penn replied with Urim and Thummin. 

This somewhat tedious list may give the reader, if 
he has enough patience to read it, a better idea of our 
hero's life at this time than generalities would give him. 
We now come, however, to the more interesting case 
of Thomas Hicks, a Baptist preacher. Early in 1673, 
this man brought out A Dialogue between a Christian and 
a Quaker, thereby excluding Quakerism from the pale 
of Christianity, and of course giving much the best of the 
argument to the Christian. The verisimilitude of the 
writing was such that it gave the impression of being the 




















o 

< 



-.^ 



:;T^:.?A 



vl?--.- 



^■^fi 



A QUAKER APOSTLE IN CONTROVERSY 8i 

report of an actual dialogue. We know how provoking 
it is to have one's views put badly by an adversary, and 
William Penn wrote in reply one of his most important 
books, The Christian-Quaker and His Divine Testimony 
Stated and Vindicated from Scripture, Reason and Authority. 
It occupies seventy large folio pages, closely printed, in 
the Collected Works, and is written with the usual 
exuberant lack of restraint in style. It is, however, 
thoroughly central to the Quaker gospel, and I will 
attempt a summary of it. 

William Penn began by defining salvation as being 
saved from sin here and the wages of it in the wrath to 
come, his point being to attack the current doctrine that 
salvation merely meant being saved from punishment 
hereafter. He defines the Light which leads to salvation 
as that which discovers the state of man and leads to 
blessedness, " It enlighteneth every man that cometh 
into the world, and every one that doeth evil hateth the 
light lest his deeds should be reproved." He met the 
objection that all men did not obey the Light they were 
supposed to have, also the objection to the Light's 
sufficiency, an objection derived from the imperfection 
of human knowledge and perception. He says that 
the words seed, light, word, spirit, life, truth, power, 
unction, bread, water, flesh and blood of Christ, are all 
essentially the same thing and signify the divine prin- 
ciple in man. He then proves that the Light was ante- 
cedent to Christ's coming and " saved man from Adam's 
day through the holy Patriarchs and Prophets." This 
argument, occupying chapter five, is an argument derived 
from the Scriptures. The imaginary objector in chapter 
six replies that that may be all very well for the Chosen 
People, but the Gentiles had no such privilege. The reply 
to this shows William Penn at his best, and he is easily 
victorious. 

In the seventh and five following chapters he brings a 
perfectly marvellous store of classical and patristic 



82 WILLIAM PENN. 

learning to bear on his favourite theme, so characteristic 
of early Quakerism, the nobility and the true and accept- 
able faith of the non-Christian world. The great and 
noble of all ages fill his pages with their resonant voices 
of inspiration, and put to shame the tin trumpets 
of his Christian evangelical opponents. The points 
of what he calls Gentile Divinity are these : that the 
Gentiles believed that there was one God, that He 
enlightened all men with a saving light, that all men 
ought to live piously, that the soul is immortal, that there 
is an eternal recompense. Point by point he proves these 
from the Greek and Roman philosophers and moralists. 
Many of his references are given from the originals, many 
also he quotes from the writings of Clement of Alexandria, 
of whose works he was not unnaturally a great student. 
Friends, indeed, are in the line of the successors of Clement 
and the early Greek Fathers, as Calvin was in the line 
that came down from Augustine. These extracts are 
in themselves the choicest fruits of ancient literature, and 
they must have been a storehouse of reinforcement to the 
plain dalesmen, who before the convincement of Isaac 
Penington, Robert Barclay and William Penn, followed 
their own intuition and the unlettered spiritual genius of 
George Fox. 

There is something scriptural about these traditional 
words of Orpheus far back beyond the dawn of history, 
quoted by Clement of Alexandria : " His hand reaches to 
the end of the sea, His right hand is everywhere, and 
the earth is under His feet. He is only begot of Himself, 
and of Him alone are all things begot, and God is the first 
and the last." Through Hesiod we come to Thales with his 
reference to "One God glorious for ever; he who knows 
hearts and has neither beginning nor end." He draws 
through Clement on the Sibylline books and through Jam- 
blichus on Pythagoras. Hcraclitus, when impeached for 
being an enemy to idolatry, writes as Isaiah might have 
written. Through Anaxagoras he comes down to his 



A QUAKER APOSTLE IN CONTROVERSY 83 

favourite Socrates, on whom he draws liberally for all the 
propositions of his Gentile Divinity. William Penn was in 
the sequence of Socrates, and so I trust are Friends. From 
Plato he passes to Zeno and the Stoics. Altogether he 
brings sixteen authorities to support his view that 
Monotheism was held outside either Judaism or 
Christianity. 

His second fundamental of Gentile Divinity, namely 
that God hath imprinted the knowledge of Himself on 
the minds of all mankind, is supported by twelve testi- 
monies of individuals and societies. Hiero spoke of a 
domestic God or God within the hearts and souls of men : 
" The eternal mind is God manifesting himself in every 
particular of us. God is that which in mortal men gives 
them to know aright concerning God." The Daimon of 
Socrates and the psychology of Plato and the mysticism 
of Plotinus form a rich store for quotation. Cleanthes, 
Philo, Plutarch, Epictetus, and Seneca are copiously 
quoted. 

Penn concludes this chapter with the words, 

" How much more weighty, O Sober and impartial Reader, 
are these inward doctrines of the Virtuous Gentiles than the 
Vehement Clamours and uncharitable exclamations of empty 
Christians against them ? Who seem as if they were afraid of 
nothing more than inherent Holiness, though of Christ's working, 
reputing it a kind of Undervaluing of his Blood, to feel the 
inward benefit of it ; accounting us the greatest Hereticks for 
assenting to the greatest Truth, to wit, the Sufi&ciency of His 
Universal Light in the hearts of men, to salvation." 

The ninth chapter is full of confirmation of these truths, 
from the early Christian Fathers, those to whom Friends 
habitually appeal in their testimony against war and 
oaths, Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, 
Origen and Lactantius. There are also later Fathers such 
as Athanasius, Chrysostom and Augustine. Athanasius, 
in reply to the heathen question, " How know you that 
yours is the right way ? " seems to have said, " The way 



84 WILLIAM PENN 

whereby to attain to the knowledge of God is within us, 
which is proved from Moses, who saith, ' The Word ot 
God is within thy heart,' and from this saying of Christ, 
' The faith and kingdom of God is within you.' " 

The next point in Gentile Divinity, that they were 
men of virtuous lives and taught that that was indis- 
pensable, is proved in voluminous extracts, but will 
hardly be in dispute. A quotation from Socrates, very 
apropos to the Christian-Quaker, is given : 

" I think it most unbeseeming of a philosopher to sell his 
advice, and extremely contrary to my practice, for ever since by 
God's hand I entered into Philosophy I was never known to take 
anything, but keep my exercises in public for everyone to hear 
that will." 

Chapter eleven proves the belief in immortality from 
the ancient philosophers, in which, naturally, the Pytho- 
goreans and Socrates are conspicuous, including the 
famous quotation from the Crito. 

He closes with Vergil, ^neid VI., 745-7 '■ 
" Donee longa Dies perfecto temporis orbe 
Concretam exemit labem purumque reliquit 
iEthereum sensum atque aurai simplicis ignem." 

Which we may translate : 

" Till the long age, in time's completed round, has taken away 
the worn material frame, and left pure the divine faculty and 
clear-shining air." 

And adds the Golden Distich of the Pythagoreans. 

"Hv S'aTToAei'i/'as autfia ts aid^p eX.iv6epov eAijs 
"Ecroreai d9dvaT0<; 9ehs o.ixfiporo'i ovk Itl ^i'tjt^s. 

" And when thou hast left the body and entered the free air, 
thou shalt be immortal, an undying god no longer subject to 
death." 

Finally William Penn believed that the heathen had 
a sight of the coming of Christ. Here we touch the world- 
wide vague mystery of the Messianic hope which William 
Penn expounds as he and so many others have found it. 



A QUAKER APOSTLE IN CONTROVERSY 85 

in the famous Fourth Eclogue of Virgil.* Modern 
classical authority is more inclined to ascribe the Eclogue 
to laureate flattery about some coming prince of the house 
of Augustus. 

The author proceeds in his thirteenth chapter to 
admit " that the Jew and much more the Christian has 
the advantage of the Gentile, yet that the Gentile had 
enough for salvation." He next faces the central objec- 
tion to his position, which he states as follows : 

" Certainly this Light within can be, at most, but the Law in 
the Conscience, answering to the first Covenant : For here is 
scarce any Mention made of Christ in this long Discourse ; and 
if this Light were Christ, as is affirmed by you Quakers, then how 
comes it, that he was not so called of Old by the Jews and Greeks ? 
And why Typified to come, when he was come before, and whilst 
Typified ? And further in what Sense can he be understood to 
bear our Iniquities, and Men and Women to be saved by his 
Blood, if this Light be the Saviour, Messiah, Christ, etc., as you 
believe, and endeavour to maintain now in the World ? " 

Several chapters are occupied in replying to this in 
detail, but they do not fit to our thinking, and 
the objection itself is only given here to show the 
kind of argument current at the time. It would appear 
that theological writing is subject to a heavy death rate. 
Theological conceptions are the final consummation, and 
represent the total conclusions, of all the impressions we 
receive. The result of so many variable and ever- 
changing factors must itself be subject to rapid variation. 
Doubtless the few eternal truths come down to us from 
the eariiest ages fresh and young, but the frameworks 
of our thought melt soon after dawn in the sunshine of 
each new age, 

• Part of the passage runs : 

" Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo. 
Jam redit et virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna. 
Jam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto." 
" In the fulness of time a new order rises. Now returns the Virgin 
Justice, and Saturn's happy reign. A new Son is sent down from 
heaven above, " 



86 WILLIAM PENN 

Chapter eighteen consists of " A Confession, in par- 
ticular to Redemption, Remission, Justification, and 
Salvation by Christ." This is a long chapter, but it is 
written without enthusiasm, and one has the feeling that 
the author is making admissions and granting concessions 
to tradition all through. It is extremely difficult to 
find in the voluminous paragraphs a very clear connection 
between these ordinary orthodox Christian positions and 
the Gospel of the Light Within. There is no contrast 
or antagonism between this chapter and the others, but 
it dwells on a different level of thought. It is a Treatise 
which might have been published by itself. Its relation 
to the rest of the book may perhaps be expressed in the 
following paragraph, which is very typical of the author's 
style : 

" To conclude : We say, though this General Victory was 
obtained, and Holy Privileges therewith, and that the Holy Body 
was instrumentally a Sharer therein, yet both the Efficient or 
Chiefest Cause was the Divine Light of Life, that so clearly 
discriminated and deeply wounded this Mystery of Iniquity, and 
that none can be thereby benefited, but as they come to Experi- 
ence the Holy Seed of Life, who is God's Mighty Arm of Power, 
Revealed to effect the same Salvation from Sin, in each Particular 
Conscience ; and which none can fail of, who first receive it as a 
Light that Manifesteth and Reproveth Every Evil Way, and j| 
continue to walk up to it in all its Holy Manifestations." * 

The book ends with a chapter to show that Christ 
is the Light, based largely on the first chapter of the 
Fourth Gospel, and an argument that the Light Within 
is universal and sufficient, and that obedience to it pro- 
duces righteousness. 

Hicks replied to the book by a "Continuation" of 
his former Dialogue. Neither disputant had yet referred 
personally to the other, but the same cannot be said of 
William Penn's reply, " Reason against Ratling and Truth 
against Fiction, in which Thomas Hicks' Disingenuity 
is Represented, his Profaneness is Rebuked, his Perjuries 



A QUAKER APOSTLE IN CONTROVERSY 87 

are Detected, his Cavils are Confounded, and Thomas 
Hicks is proved no Christian by Several Short Arguments 
Raised from his Ungodly Way of Procedure against Us," 
by " one who cannot but contend earnestly for the True 
Faith once dehvered to the Saints, William Penn." 
This is the title page of a book not so long as the 
" Christian- Quaker " but still containing 50,000 words 
and full of very mighty abuse. Hicks replied with a 
further " Continuation " of -his Dialogue, but the early 
Friends did not feel it to be part of their non-resistance 
doctrine to give their opponents the last word, and Penn's 
final answer was called " The Counterfeit Christian 
Detected, Against the Vile Forgeries, Gross Perversions, 
Black Slanders, Plain Contradictions and Scurrilous 
Language of T. Hicks an Annabaptist Preacher, by a 
Lover of Truth and Peace, W.P." Hicks made no reply. 
What had annoyed Friends so much over this business 
was the controversial device employed by Hicks of putting 
all kinds of foolish arguments into their own mouths in 
dialogue. William Penn described the imaginary 
Quaker in the dialogue as " A man of straw and a fool 
and a knave of his own creating." Friends felt apparently 
that they were not yet vindicated, and appealed to the 
Baptist body to punish Hicks for what they called his 
" Forgeries." Their case was so strong that the Baptists 
felt obliged to grant an opportunity for a public dis- 
cussion in which Hicks should be brought to account, and 
the meeting was appointed to be held at the Baptist 
Meeting House at the Barbican, but the Baptists con- 
trived to fix the meeting for a day on which William Penn 
and George Whitehead, the Quaker champions, were 
away in the country and could not be brought back at 
short notice. In consequence the assembly at the 
Barbican exonerated Hicks with great unction, no accusers 
being present. But William Penn was not the man to 
suffer injustice of this kind. He hastened to London 
and found that the whole town was talking of the contro- 



88 WILLIAM PENN 

versy and of the victory of Hicks. It is quite evident that, 
though these controversial books are unreadable by us, 
they were great events in the popular view of the time. 
William Penn put forth a strong appeal to the public on 
the latest trick of the Baptists and demanded a new 
meeting. The Baptists replied that a man could not be 
tried twice. Friends pointed out the timidity of this plea, 
and the result was that public feeling was so strong that 
the Baptists were obliged to appoint a second meeting at 
the Barbican. William Penn, in a letter to George Fox, 
says that not less than six thousand persons were present. 
Making all allowance for the exaggeration of the size of 
meetings which appears to be habitual with everybody, 
one can only marvel at this revelation of the strength of 
religious feeling among the common people, even in the 
depth of the Restoration days. The meeting began by 
Thomas Ellwood reading the charges against Hicks, but 
the company did not appear to want to hear that. Some- 
body called out from the middle of the room " If Christ 
was the Inner Light, where was his Manhood," and by 
shouts and disturbances Friends were compelled to enter 
into an improvised controversy on this profound and 
difficult theological point. As soon as they agreed to do 
this and to abandon the personal charges, silence ensued, 
and an orderly meeting was held. The Quaker speakers 
were George Whitehead, Stephen Crisp, William Penn and 
George Keith. A narrative of the debate is given in 
SeweVs History of Friends, Vol. II., pages 216, 232 234 and 
in the single volume edition, pages 522-525. The argument 
went on till it was dark. William Penn called for lights, 
but the Baptists represented that the doors had been 
broken by the crowd, and the seats torn out of their 
places. These would need repair before the morning, so 
the meeting must close and the discussion be handed 
over to a deputation from each side. This was accepted ; 
but at the meeting which was held, no agreement was come 
to, and the Baptists, asserting that the room was over- 



A QUAKER APOSTLE IN CONTROVERSY 89 

crowded and the gallery giving way, broke up the gather- 
ing. The substance of the arguments, as given in Sewel, 
are no more edifying than theological swordplay usually 
is. With regard to the central point, whether the human 
historical Jesus was a part of the eternal Christ who is 
the Light, Friends were prepared to answer that the 
manhood was a part of the Christ, but William Penn, in 
describing the affair to George Fox, says that he feared the 
word " part " and chose rather to say that we believe the 
holy manhood of Jesus to be a member of the Christ of God. 
He thought that the word " part " impHed a division in 
Christ, whereas " member " did not, that " A body may 
be taken into members without breach of union, but not 
into parts. A member divides not, parts divide. Christ 
is called the head, that is the most noble member — the 
Church the body, and particulars are styled members of 
that body."* 

The other controversies of this period were on 
similar lines and need not be described in detail. 
In spite of ingenious refinements of this kind, one 
receives from the writings of the early Friends the 
impression that they had not succeeded in finding or 
stating the connection between the historical and inward 
Christ in a clear way. There has not been published, even 
now, any philosophic account of the identity which 
we have always asserted between the historical human 
Jesus of Nazareth and a living and universal spiritual 
Presence. The traditional view about the personality 
of Jesus, and the lack of a sufficiently scientific psycho- 
logy, have combined to prevent the solution of this puzzle 
in our own day. 

However, the conception of the subliminal self has, 
through the work of the Society for Psychical Research, 
become part of the current coin of philosophy. We 

♦ This letter to George Fox was printed by Clarkson in his " Life," 
p. 46, copied by Janney, p. 100, and in Hepworth Dixon's first edition, 
p. 153. It is also referred to in George Fox's Journal. 



90 WILLIAM PENN 

realise that there is at the back of the external 
mind a large range of faculties below the threshold 
of consciousness, — a man in the cellar, — to put into 
English the literal meaning of " subliminal." This region 
is still only partially explored. It contains faculties 
both higher and lower than those of the normal man. 
There are to be found there remnants of personality that 
have been outgrown in the course of civilisation, and the 
dim beginning of faculties that have not yet been reached 
in our spiritual evolution. Not all that is subliminal is 
wise and good. Nevertheless it is also true that in this 
great untapped reservoir of the water of life are to be 
found the hidden origins of motive, the bases of visible 
character, and contact with that spiritual environment 
where God dwells. In this great region of the soul lie the 
fountains of inspiration, the track of prayer, and the 
way to the Whole, the universal soul. This is the region 
of mystical experience, and all religions are so many 
means of battering at its gates. In terms of this con- 
ception, then, we find the key to the experience of the 
early Friends, the psychical explanation which has been 
lacking. The subliminal mind of Jesus Christ was such 
that it is fitting to call him a Son of God, a human phrase 
which tells of a spiritual affinity, of a descent comparable 
to the physical relation of father and son. A subliminal 
personality like His, stimulated by His, crystallised under 
the same laws of crystallisation as His, and bearing to His 
a relation of close kinship, is what the Friend means when 
he speaks of the birth of the Divine Creature, of the 
Light of Christ within, and of the eternal Word 
of God, the light and life of men. The humanity of 
Jesus of Nazareth presents no difficulty, for it is 
not questioned. The link between the inward and 
outward in Him is no more mysterious than the link 
between the inward and outward in ourselves. The 
identity is in the subliminal region. 

This theory has come to me from a lifelong study of the 



A QUAKER APOSTLE IN CONTROVERSY 91 

work of the Society for Psychical Research, and it has 
been a great delight to find that the venerable Professor 
Sanday of Oxford, our greatest living theologian, has in 
his recent book, " Christologies Ancient and Modern," 
adopted the above as his final and accepted view. The earHer 
chapters of his book are devoted to criticising and exposing 
the errors in all the other Christologies of history, and 
then he closes on the kinship between the subliminal self 
of Jesus and the anointing that comes to ours. " We 
have the mind of Christ " is the Apostle Paul's way of 
putting it. The subliminal, in this sense, is, it will be 
seen, an accurate scientific term which includes what 
we popularly have called the Soul. 

The year 1673 brought also to William Penn a task 
which must have been far more troublesome than that 
of attacking the open foes of Quakerism; and the two 
books which it evoked from him are among those we 
would most willingly let die. They were written against 
that cantankerous apostate, John Perrot. One of the 
most annoying things in life is to see what one values 
foolishly exaggerated and made to look ridiculous by 
being travestied by some knave or fool. John Perrot 
was a man of unbalanced egotistical temperament, in 
whom the doctrine of the Indwelling God acted like a 
poison. He began to preach as soon as he joined Friends, 
and about 1660 felt it his duty to go with one John Love, 
or Luff, to convert the Pope at Rome. They passed the 
Inquisition at Leghorn and delivered their message 
securely to the Doge of Venice, but when they reached 
Rome they testified, in what language I do not know, 
against the idolatry and corruption which they found 
there. This, as they must have known would be the case, 
landed them both in prison. Love perished in the dun- 
geons of the Inquisition, whose authorities reported that 
he had fasted to death, but some nuns said that he had 
been despatched in the night to get rid of him. It seemed 
more proper to put Perrot into a lunatic asylum, from 



92 WILLIAM PENN 

which he was finally released by the exercise of influence 
from England upon some highly placed person in Rome. 
On his release he wrote an Epistle to England, signed 
simply, " John," in imitation of the Apostle, and exhorted 
Friends to read his " Life " in their Meetings. He even 
wrote a letter to " several grave women " and signed it 
" Your tender sister, John. " He wrote chapters in imita- 
tion of the Proverbs of Solomon, and seems to have given 
a most improbable account of his own sufferings in Rome. 
When he returned he set out to be more spiritual than 
George Fox himself, and propounded the view that you 
ought not to take off your hat in time of prayer unless you 
felt specially moved to do so at the time ; and not, as a 
rule, feeling so moved he habitually kept on his hat 
Trifling in importance as this practice really is, it was a 
dreadful back-hander for Friends. They refused to take 
off their hats to anyone but the Most High on the ground 
that it was a form of reverence due to Him alone. Perrot's 
exaggeration and claim to independent judgment attacked 
the whole basis of their usage about the hat in the name of 
that very individual freedom which they claimed. One 
cannot be surprised that among the more frothy spirits 
this kind of thing should occur. Its importance in the 
Society's history is really small, but at the time it 
appeared serious, and a great number of Friends were 
attracted by the speciousness of the argument, including 
for a while Thomas Ellwood, who writes," I, amongst the 
many who were catched in that snare, was taken with the 
notion, as what then seemed to my weak understanding 
suitable to the doctrine of a spiritual dispensation." 
He and most others soon fell in with the more decorous 
practice of the leaders ; but George Fox had to hold great 
meetings to bring this about. One was held in London 
for many days, the time being occupied in reading letters 
from distant Friends abjuring their falling away. Perrot 
was disowned after careful persuasion had failed to move 
him. He began to wear gaudy attire and a sword, visited 



A QUAKER APOSTLE IN CONTROVERSY 93 

America, where he is said to have grievously misbehaved 
himself, and finally obtained a Government position and 
became a rigid exacter of oaths, which he had formerly 
abjured. About 1673 he began to .write violent attacks on 
Friends, in which George Fox and others were called 
" ravening wolves," and a whole vocabulary of similar 
epithets was brought into use in an anonymous pamphlet 
called The Spiyit of the Hat, or the Government of the 
Quakers; and William Penn felt it his duty to write in 
reply, The Spirit of Alexander the Coppersmith Justly 
Rebuked. Perrot again replied with Tyranny and Hypoc- 
risy Detected, in which all kinds of falsehoods were heaped 
upon Friends and many vile slanders expounded at length. 
William Penn replied with Judas and the Jews Combined 
Against Christ and his Followers, the step from Alexander 
the coppersmith to Judas typifying broadly the increasing 
bitterness of the polemic. One can only wish that William 
Penn had never had to mix in this troublesome and 
undignified controversy. There the matter ended. Its 
only interest for us is as a type of the task before the 
founders of Quakerism, of maintaining some measure of 
order, dignity and uniformity in their practice, and giving 
the voice of the majority its proper weight.* 

Penn's Baptist and Presbyterian opponents found 
great joy in these Quaker excesses, which must have 
brought discredit on the whole movement. That is 
the meaning of " Judas and the Jews combined." One 
marriage seems to have been made without any 
ceremony, as a protest against formality (Collected Works, 
Vol. II., p. 223), and one of the followers of Perrot publicly 
tore the Bible to pieces and another burned it, with the 
view of showing their independence of the letter (p. 213). 
These were the very points on which Friends were open 
to attacks and misunderstanding, so that a few ill- 
balanced and conceited people were able to do very 
considerable harm, however unimportant in themselves. 

* Sewel, pp. 257, 290, 291. 



94 WILLIAM PENN 

Perrot posted up his title-pages on posts in the city 
with torches to Kght them and a guard by night, just 
as though they were notices of theatres and football 
matches. 

A more decorous and worthy adversary fell to William 
Penn shortly after this, in the year 1675, namely the famous 
Richard Baxter, leader of the Presbyterians. He lived 
near Rickmansworth, and, discovering that that district 
was becoming filled with Quakers, be became alarmed ; 
and the result was a public debate between himself and 
William Penn, which occupied seven hours. The audience 
filled two large rooms. It is not clear how the difficulty 
of the two rooms was met, and no account of the actual 
contents of the debate has been preserved. The county 
families attended, and it must have been a striking sight 
to see the tall handsome young Quaker, dressed in the 
ordinary garb, face to face with the older cleric who 
generally referred to his opponent as " this man," but 
once, we hope in a moment of excitement, as a devil.* 
This we learn from five letters addressed afterwards by 
Penn to Baxter by way of continuing the argument and 
arranging for a second opportunity. It is clear that this took 
place, but the correspondence does not leave it clear whether 
a third was arranged or not. Penn was pressing for it 
and Baxter is accused of evading it. The subjects of 
these debates were " The True and False Ministry," 
" The True and False Church," and " The Sufficiency of 
the Light Within all Men to Eternal Salvation." They 
seem to have spoken plainly. William Penn describes 
" thy senseless, headless, tailless talk. I perceive the 
scurvy of the mind is thy distemper. I fear it is incur- 
able." He, however, speaks of the civility and kindness 
which he had received at the second conference, which 
had led him on his side to gentler treatment than he 
could have meted out ; and it is very comforting that the 
correspondence concludes " in which dear Love of God, 

* Collected Works, Vol. I., p. 170. 



**, 




»: 





A QUAKER APOSTLE IN CONTROVERSY 95 

Richard Baxter, I do forgive thee and desire thy good and 
felicity."* 

It is a long time since we have had to record anything 
about gaols, due to the King's Declaration of Indulgence 
in the early part of 1672, but its unconstitutional character 
was attacked by the Parliament of 1673, and Charles, 
under advice from Louis XIV., submitted. Bonfires 
in London expressed the joy of the inhabitants at the 
tearing up of the Declaration of Indulgence. The Test 
Act was immediately passed, and an Appeal which was to 
have accompanied it, relieving Nonconformist Protestants, 
was not proceeded with ; so that we have persecution 
beginning again violently in 1674. Penn wrote a letter 
to the King, pointing out where the persecution was raging 
the hardest, and asked for his assistance. 

George Fox was thrown into prison at Worcester 
for refusing the Oath of Allegiance. Friends in London, 
finding the local authorities angry and obstinate, tried 
to remove him by a writ of habeas corpus to the King's 
Bench. William Penn and William Mead finally got 
access to the Duke of York, and had an interview in which 
the Duke reproached Penn for not having come to see 
him for eight years. This was the restoration of the 
ancient friendship. William Mead was also extra- 
ordinarily pleased with their reception, and said so after- 
wards with great delight. This Penn records in an 
" Autograph Apology for Himself " written in sadder years 
to come, when William Mead was one of the Friends 
who criticised him for his affinities with the court. f 
They succeeded in releasing Fox after fourteen months in 
prison. 

The situation produced two important and valuable 
political works in the year 1675 — A Treatise on Oaths, 
written by William Penn with the assistance, probably 

* Collected Works, Vol. I., p. 176. 

t Janney, pp. 109-111, and Memoirs Penn, Hist. Soc, Vol. III., 
Part II., p. 240. 



96 WILLIAM PENN 

nominal, of Richard Richardson, which was endorsed 
by eleven other leading Friends. The Quaker testimony 
against oaths may be put into a nutshell, namely that it 
is directly forbidden by Christ and the Apostle James in 
passages which cannot possibly refer to profane swearing, 
and that it degrades truthfulness and puts the veracity 
of ordinary assertions at a discount. The remarkable 
thing about the book, however, is that, after arguing the 
case at full length and in great detail, Penn proceeds to 
support it by quotations from a hundred and twenty-two 
authors both well known and little known, beginning 
with his beloved Greek philosophers, Pythagoras and 
Plato, and going on to the Greek and Roman Stoics, 
and so to the Christian Fathers both early and late, and 
down through the mediaeval times to Wycliffe and many 
mystical sects, and on to Erasmus and the Reformation, 
and to the Prince of Orange in the previous year 1674. 
This work was done so thoroughly that it will never have 
to be done again, and for sheer learning it is a wonderful 
performance. There can have been few greater scholars 
(not using the word in the narrower schools sense) in 
the seventeenth century than William Penn. He must 
have supplemented his brief Oxford education with much 
work on these lines in the fruit-bearing period at Saumur ; 
and even this can only have been the entrance to a studious 
life enriched by marvellous intellectual aptitude. 

His second political treatise is also one which does 
not deserve the oblivion which has fallen upon it. It is a 
masterly pronouncement in favour of liberty and tolera- 
tion entitled England's Present Interest Considered, with 
Honour to the Prince and Safety to the People* The 
author was profoundly convinced that the state of 
England was far from well, and saw plainly that it was 
mainly due to attempts at coercion, particularly coercion 
in matters of religion. He puts the situation in his 
Preface, where the following passages occur : 

* Collected Works, Vol. I., p. 672. 



A QUAKER APOSTLE IN CONTROVERSY 97 

" Persons have been flung into Gaols, Gates and Trunks 
broke open, Goods distrained, till a Stool hath not been left to sit 
down on : Flocks of Cattle driven, whole Barns full of Corn seized, 
Thresh'd, and carried away ; Parents left without their Children, 
Children without their Parents, both without Subsistence . . . 

"... But that which aggravates the Cruelty is. The 
Widow's Mite hath not escaped their hands : they have made her 
Cow the Forfeiture of her Conscience ; not leaving her a bed to 
lye on, nor a Blanket to cover her. And which is yet more 
Barbarous, and helps to make up this Tragedy, the poor Helpless 
Orphan's Milk, Boiling over the Fire, has been flung to the Dogs, 
and the Skillet made Part of their Prize. . . . 

". . . For to see the imprison 'd has been Suspicion enough 
for a Gaol ; and to visit the Sick, to make a Conventicle : Fining 
and Straining for Preaching, and being at a Meeting, where there 
hath been neither ; and Forty Pounds for Twenty, at Pick and 
Choose too, is a moderate advance with some of them. . . . 
So that in some Places it hath been sufficient to a Premunire, 
that Men have had Estates to lose ; I mean such Men, who through 
Tenderness refuse the Oath. . . . For besides all other 
Inconveniences to those that give them Trouble, their very 
Sufferings beget that Compassion in the Multitude, which rarely 
misses of making many Friends, and proves often a Preparation 
for not a few Proselytes. . . . Contests naturally draw 
Company, and the Vulgar are justified in their Curiosity, if not 
Pity, when they see so many Wiser Men busie themselves to 
suppress a People, by whom they see no other 111, than that for 
Non-Conformity in Matters of Religion they bear Injuries and 
Indignities Patiently. . . ." 

The Treatise which follows shows the author to have 
been as full of learning in the region of politics as in that 
of religion. We have a plea in favour of the security of 
person and estate against the Government, the right of 
free voting and of trial by an independent jury. The 
voice is the voice of Pym and Hampden, supported by 
quotations from the champions of the British Constitu- 
tion from the earliest times. It contains, among other 
things, an account of the solemn curse pronounced by 
the Bishops in the year 1253 against the breakers of the 



98 WILLIAM PENN 

Great Charter, a passage which was, no doubt, the source 
of Whittier's poem " The Charter Breakers." The 
emphasis of the work was in its plea for rehgious tolera- 
tion, in the chapter " Of our Superiors Governing Them- 
selves upon a Ballance as Near as May Be towards the 
Several Religious Interests." If religious toleration still 
remained an important issue among us, we should find no 
stronger plea, nor any historical treatment more richly 
illustrated, than the one which William Penn has left to 
us. He concludes also with a positive plea in favour of 
general and practical religion. When it appeared, the 
country was ablaze with persecution and the infamous 
trade of the informers at its height. One may feel sure 
that such a work, by one of the most prominent men in 
England, cannot but have had a large circulation, and con- 
tributed to the strong effort for liberty which filled the 
next few years after 1675, and only failed because it was 
mixed up with falsehoods like the Popish Plot agitation, 
errors like the Rye House fiasco, and the political mis- 
directions of Shaftesbury. 



CHAPTER IX 

New Jersey 

The preceding chapter has given but a faint idea of the 
struggle against persecution which Friends were enduring 
at this time, nor have the efforts of their influential young 
leader been set out in any detail. He appealed to the 
King on behalf of Friends, he visited statesmen personally, 
he published accounts of their widespread sufferings. 
In the midst of the dark and miserable landscape which 
England presented, however, there was a distant gleam 
of hope in the far-off American plantations. In our now 
well-explored and accessible earth there is probably no 
place so really remote, not Australia or China or Peru, 
as were the estuaries of the Hudson and the Delaware 
in the reign of Charles 11. The labour, time, risk and ex- 
pense involved in reaching them, and the lack of all regular 
communication, were likely to dishearten anyone to whom 
life in England had not been made quite intolerable. The 
traveller to-day, steaming one hundred miles up the broad 
estuary of the Delaware, from Cape May to Philadelphia, 
and rejoicing to have reached smooth water again, passes 
a land of fruitful orchards and farms and old-fashioned 
country towns built of wooden houses, the very abode 
of comfort and peace. On the left shore are Delaware 
and Pennsylvania, on the right the state of New Jersey, 
famous for peaches, with its Atlantic seaboard covered by 
a long string of seaside resorts, and including large 
suburban districts of both New York and Philadelphia. 
Not as starving men come, but as Seeley once said, in the 

99 



100 WILLIAM PENN 

spirit of Abraham or Aeneas came the founders of these 
now ancient settlements. They named the settlements 
after the homes they had left, Chester, Newark. Bur- 
lington, Newcastle. On the flat plain of New Jersey lies 
a county called Cumberland. 

Of all the founders of America, William Penn was the 
greatest, and he will remain the most famous. He was 
led to his great task by circumstances, gradually, as is 
almost always the case with men who do great things. 
The Penns were a sea-faring family. Admiral Penn had 
conquered Jamaica, and had held shadowy claims to 
estates there, which Cromwell had never given him, but 
which he hoped the Stuarts might. William Penn wrote 
in 1681 concerning Pennsylvania : " This I can say, that 
I had an opening of joy as to these parts in the year 1661 
at Oxford, twenty years since." Thus the boy is father 
to the man, and the undergraduate's dream of liberty in a 
new Utopia made him ready to grasp the opportunity 
when it came. 

The next stage was his entanglement, through no 
initiative of his own, in the affairs of New Jersey, in the 
year 1675. The Dutch had a great province which they 
called New Netherlands, which stretched from the shores 
of the Delaware to the Connecticut River. This fell 
to England in 1664, as a prize at the close of the Dutch 
wars of Charles II : but according to the lamentably 
corrupt ways of the Restoration Government these con- 
quests were regarded as royal properties for the enrich- 
ment of King and courtiers. The King made this pro- 
vince over to his brother James, Duke of York, whilst 
it was still in Dutch hands. The Duke, not to lose time, 
also anticipated the conquest by granting the region lying 
between the Hudson and the Delaware estuaries to Lord 
Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. They were to divide 
it. As soon as the British sailors had defeated the 
Dutch sailors, these gentlemen entered upon the plunder, 
and the region was named New Jersey because Sir George 



NEW JERSEY loi 

Carteret was a Jersey man. The only people likely to 
colonise the place and render it a remunerative speculation 
were the persecuted Nonconformists, so that the specu- 
lative proprietors were quite willing that the English 
penal laws should have no place across the ocean. Some 
Puritans from New England responded, and settled on 
the Eastern seaboard, and a few English Quakers were to 
be found amongst them. Lord Berkeley found his 
position as an absentee landlord very difficult and dis- 
putatious, and he was willing to sell. 

Now as early as 1660 George Fox had been thinking 
of forming a colony of Friends in this region. Josiah 
Coale went that year to the Susquehanna, now Maryland 
and Virginia, as an agent of Friends in England, to try to 
negotiate for a Quaker colony. But Indian wars and 
other things prevented his achieving this object. 
(" Quakers in American Colonies," p, 358). It is to be 
noted that Josiah Coale, who had been twice to America, 
was intimate with William Penn, and immediately 
after the latter' s convincement went with him home, to 
help him in the forthcoming painful interview with the 
Admiral. When Lord Berkeley threw his property 
upon the market George Fox had just returned from a 
visit to the American settlements in 1673. William and 
Gulielma Penn met him at Bristol, and he came with 
them to London and stayed at their house at Rickmans- 
worth. The talk would be of the Western wilderness and 
the Quakers already there. It was decided that Friends 
should buy the property, which they did for the sum of 
£1,000 in the year 1674. The purchaser was Edward 
Byllinge, acting through John Fenwick as his agent. 
Though they were both Friends, Fenwick (a newly-con- 
vinced Cromwellian) disputed with Byllinge about his 
share in the property, and the matter was referred to 
William Penn as arbitrator. Fenwick was very unwilling 
to accept the award, and William Penn had much diffi- 
culty in persuading him to do so. In the end, however. 



102 WILLIAM PENN 

he was satisfied, and embarked with his family in the 
ship Griffith. They landed at " a pleasant rich spot " 
on the Delaware, theirs being the first English ship that 
had sailed its waters. There they founded the town of 
Salem, N.J. 

Edward Byllinge became embarrassed in his circum- 
stances, and to satisfy his creditors proposed to transfer 
his American property to them, and at his earnest entreaty 
William Penn consented to be associated with two trustees 
representing the creditors in administering the trust. 
This was the opening of the door, and was no doubt so 
accepted by a busy man, inasmuch as the New Jersey 
property was already occupied by a number of refugees 
for conscience' sake, whose affairs came annually before 
Friends in London. And we cannot doubt that behind 
that he saw the chance of founding a new Utopia across the 
sea. First it was necessary to separate his territory from 
that of Sir George Carteret. This was a troublesome 
business, but was finally achieved. Sir George Carteret 
taking the eastern and more settled districts, and Penn and 
his colleagues the western unsettled lands, still in possession 
of the Indians. Financially, no doubt. Sir George Car- 
teret got the best of it, but we can also well believe that 
Penn desired an empty land which he would fill with 
his own people who would come under a fresh constitu- 
tion. West New Jersey, as it seems to have been called, 
was therefore his province, and he sat down to write a 
constitution. 

We must imagine him doing this, not, however, at his 
first home at Rickmansworth, but at Worminghurst in 
Sussex, a house (now destroyed) standing on the South 
Downs, a few miles from the sea. Three children had been 
born and died at Rickmansworth, and the baby, Springett, 
was to live only till the dawn of manhood.* Hepworth 
Dixon surmises that Rickmansworth had become too 
much of a public resort for Friends, and too accessible 

* H. M. Jenkins, " Family of William Penn," p. 56. 



NEW JERSEY 103 

from London, to give Penn the quiet which he needed for 
thinking out the fundamental laws of- a new province. 

Penn had before him Harrington's "Oceana" 
and More's "Utopia," and of a more practical kind, 
the constitutions of the Puritan provinces in New England. 
Better than all, he had in the condition of England the 
terrible experience of all that a state should not be. 

The principles of the constitution were the right of 
free worship, a democratic Assembly with manhood 
suffrage and vote by ballot, an executive responsible 
to the Assembly, trial by jury with the assistance of 
judges elected for not more than two years, and remov- 
able. This last feature was afterwards corrected in 
Pennsylvania. There was to be no imprisonment for 
debt, and the state was to undertake the education of 
orphans. This constitution was pubhshed by the trustees 
and circulated among Friends all over the country, with 
a description of the soil, air, climate and natural fertility 
of New Jersey. It differed, however, from speculative 
proceedings in that it concluded with the advice that 
" Whosoever had a desire to be concerned in this intended 
plantation should weigh the thing well before the Lord 
and not headily and rashly conclude on any such remove, 
and see that they did not offer violence to the tender love 
of their near kindred, but soberly and conscientiously 
endeavour to obtain their goodwill and the unity of 
Friends where they live." A colony manned by emigrants 
who left their homes in this spirit was likely to be a success, 
and during 1677 and 1678 five vessels, carrying eight 
hundred emigrants, sailed for West New Jersey. One 
company of Friends came from Yorkshire, another from 
London. These were the earhest voyagers, and they 
sailed in the ship Kent with two hundred and thirty on 
board. They reached Newcastle on the Delaware in the 
summer of 1677, where they found a few Swedish colon- 
ists. They went up the river, past the future site 
of Philadelphia, to Burlington, which they settled as the 



t04 WILLIAM PENM 

principal town of the colony, the Yorkshiremen taking one 
side of the future main street and the Londoners the other. 
They purchased the land from the Indians. On this 
occasion they bought a tract extending for twenty miles 
on the Delaware river for the following articles : — 
30 match-coats, 20 guns, 30 kettles, i great kettle, 30 pair 
of hose, 20 fathoms of duffels, 30 petticoats, 30 narrow 
hose, 30 bars of lead, 15 small barrels of powder, 70 knives, 
30 Indian axes, 70 combs, 60 pair of tobacco tongs, 
60 pair of scissors, 60 tinshaw looking-glasses, 120 awl- 
blades, 120 fish-hooks, 2 grasps of red paint, 120 needles, 
60 tobacco boxes, 120 pipes, 200 bells, 100 Jews-harps, 
and 6 ankers of rum. In thus buying the land from the 
Indians Friends were following the excellent precedent 
which had been set them by the Dutch, to whom credit 
should be given for this.* 

The Quaker colonists had not yet found out the ruin 
which strong spirits worked among the Indians, but they 
soon took measures to stop it. Nine or ten years after 
this voyage a meeting was held with the natives in order 
to prevent the sale of strong liquors to them. High 
chiefs were present, one of whom made the following 
speech : f 

" The strong liquor was first sold us by the Dutch, and they 
are blind, they have no eyes, they did not see that it was for our 
hurt. The next people that came among us were the Swedes, who 
continued the sale of the strong liquors to us ; they were also 
blind, they had no eyes, they did not see it to be hurtful to us to 
drink it, although we knew it to be hurtful to us ; but if people 
will sell it to us, we are so in love with it, that we cannot forbear 
it. When we drink it, it makes us mad ; we do not know what 
we do ; we then abuse one another, we throw each other into the 
fire ; seven score of our people have been killed by reason of 
drinking it, since the time it was first sold us. These people that 
sell it have no eyes. But now there is a people come to live among 

* " Quakers in the American Colonies," p. 367. 

I Smith's " History of New Jersey," p. 100, quoted by Janney, p. 123. 



NEW JERSEY 105 

us that have eyes, they see it be for our hurt, they are willing to 
deny themselves the profit of it for our good. These people have 
eyes ; we are glad such a people are come among us ; we must 
put it down by mutual consent ; the cask must be sealed up, it 
must be made fast, it must not leak by day or by night, in light 
or in the dark, and we give you these four belts of wampum, which 
we would have you lay up safe and keep by you, to be witnesses 
of this agreement ; and we would have you tell your children, 
that these four belts of wampum are given you to be witnesses, 
betwixt us and you, of this agreement." 

The colony prospered exceedingly. The arrangements 
of Lords Carteret and Berkeley had required each 
colonist to provide himself with musket, powder and balls, 
but the Friends were much more secure than guns could 
make them. They trusted to receive from the red men 
the same kindly and benevolent treatment which they 
gave, and their trust was not disappointed. Their first 
meetings were held at Burlington, under a sailcloth tent, 
until the earliest houses were built. By 1681, when 
William Penn was negotiating for Pennsylvania, fourteen 
hundred Quakers had settled in West New Jersey. 

To continue the story of the Jerseys a little out of the 
order of time, it may here be noted that Sir George 
Carteret, who was a notable Restoration courtier and a 
friend of Pepys, died in 1679, and his widow had to sell 
East New Jersey to pay his debts. Penn was not slow 
to take the opportunity, and purchased the Eastern 
province with the help of eleven other Friends in 
February, 1681. These added another twelve to them- 
selves as owners, including Robert Barclay and some 
of the Scotch nobility, who were not Friends. These 
twenty-four proprietors formed a Council of Proprietors, 
that for East Jersey being appointed in 1684 and for West 
Jersey in 1687. These formed a combined Council of 
Proprietors which, upon the accession of Queen Anne in 
1702, handed the right of government to the Crown. 
They remained, however, as a body of landowners, and 



io6 WILLIAM PENN 

such is the durability of property rights that this quaint 
and ancient body is still in existence, not having yet sold 
all their lands. New Jersey had three Quaker gover- 
nors, and many of its magistrates and officials were always 
Friends. It still forms part of Philadelphia Yearly 
Meeting. The record of the Society and the Colony is one 
of increasing prosperity, lighted up by the romance of 
Elizabeth Haddon and consecrated by the saintly mission 
of John Woolman. 



CHAPTER X 

Holland and Germany 

In 1677, Friends invaded Germany, and their peaceful 
force entered the country through Holland. The ablest 
Friends in Britain were in the party. A ship sailed 
from Harwich to Brill containing George Fox, Robert 
Barclay, William Penn, George Keith and several others. 
Isabel Yeamans, the daughter of Margaret Fox, was with 
them, doubtless to watch over George Fox's physical 
well-being, for he had suffered greatly in health from his 
recent long imprisonment at Worcester, and in his account 
of the journey he speaks of what we should now call 
neuralgia troubling him all night. There were already 
several Meetings of Friends in Holland and Germany; 
in Holland at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Haarlem, Alch- 
maar, Waterland and Haarligen, also in Friesland. 
There were also Friends at Hamburg, Lubeck, Fried- 
richstadt, and Embden, and in the far-away Palatinate 
and still more distant Dantzig, then in the kingdom 
of Poland. * The first object of the deputation was to 
organise a Yearly Meeting for the continent of Europe at 
Amsterdam, and Quarterly Meetings in the separate 
countries. Four Monthly Meetings were set up in 
Holland. It will be remembered that William Penn 
could speak both Dutch and German fluently, but 
although Robert Barclay and George Keith were, 
with William Penn, the most learned men in the Society, 

* A monograph on the history of Friends in Holland, based on much 
original research, has been written by Prof. William I. Hull, of Swarthmore 
College, Pennsylvania. 

107 



io8 WILLIAM PENN 

some of the party required an interpreter, whom 
they found among the Dutch Friends. This does 
not seem, however, to have interfered with the fervour 
of the meetings and the triumphant breakings forth of the 
Divine Glory which William Penn's account constantly 
mentions, such, for instance, as the following description 
of a meeting at Amsterdam which lasted from eleven on 
a Sunday morning till four in the afternoon : 

" There was a mighty Concourse of People from several 
Places of this Country, and that of several Perswasions, Baptists, 
Presbyterians, Socinians, Seekers, etc., and God was with his 
People, and his Word of Life and Power, of Wisdom and Strength 
covered them ; yea, the hidden Things both of Esau and Jacob, 
the Mystery both of Iniquity and Godliness were opened and 
declared in the Demonstration of the Eternal Spirit that Day. 
And Oh ! Blessed and Magnified be the Name of the Lord that 
hath not only left Himself, but also not His Servants without 
a Witness ! Oh, He is worthy to be Lov'd and Fear'd and 
Obey'd and Reverenced for ever." 

The deputation was indeed a powerful one. It is 
doubtful whether four such spiritual leaders of men 
and vehicles of the Divine Spirit as were then travelling 
together, aided by close fellowship with the persecuted 
groups whom they met, have ever worked together 
since. They were tireless in the holding of meetings. 
The captain, an old sailor of Admiral Penn's, allowed them 
to use the best accommodation on the boat for that pur- 
pose. Two meetings in a day were common, and intervals 
for meals were similarly utilised. At Rotterdam " The 
Gospel was preached, the dead were raised, and the living 
fed, and God, even our God, bore heavenly record to his 
only Son in us ; and Truth is honourable to the eyes of 
several in that Place." 

The next day they separated and visited from house 
to house. 

" All our visits were precious meetings, for indeed for that end 
God brought us into this land. Several of us dined and supped 



HOLLAND AND GERMANY 109 

that day at two great men's houses, where we had blessed oppor- 
tunities to make known unto them what was the hope of our 
calling, that mystery which to the Gentiles is now revealed, even 
Christ Jesus, the Light and Life of the World manifested in us." 

By Leyden and Haarlem they reached Amsterdam, 
and stayed at Gertrude Dirick's house. There they 
organised the Yearly Meeting and laid down procedure 
in a series of minutes which constituted the nucleus of a 
Book of Discipline. Here letters were received from the 
Friends at Dantzig, complaining of the heavy sufferings 
they underwent, informing them also that the King of 
Poland was there, and asking advice about a letter to 
him. So William Penn wrote a long letter to that monarch, 
who was none other than the great John Sobieski, urging 
him to cease the persecution of Friends, and reminding 
him with much tact " of a noble saying of one of thy 
ancestors, Stephen, King of Poland, ' I am King of men, 
not of consciences, King of bodies, not of souls.' " 

The party separated, and William Penn, George Keith, 
and Robert Barclay went on to what must have been 
one of the most interesting experiences of their apostolic 
lives, a visit to the Princess Elisabeth Palatine at her 
little court at Herwerden in Westphalia. This remark- 
able lady was the daughter of Frederick, Elector Palatine, 
and his wife Elisabeth, daughter of King James L of 
England. She was the sister of Prince Rupert, the great 
rival and enemy of Admiral Penn, and sister also of the 
Electress Sophia of Hanover, who was the mother of 
George L Her father's luckless assumption of the crown 
of Bohemia began the Thirty Years War in 1618, the 
year of her birth, and the defeat of the Protestants at the 
battle of Prague the next year drove the family in exile 
to the Hague, where they were brought up in relative 
poverty. She had resisted a marriage to the King of 
Poland, proposed to her by her uncle, Charles I., because 
she would not change her religion. She had been a 



no WILLIAM PENN 

favourite pupil of Descartes, had never married, but 
had always been deeply interested in the things of the 
spirit, and in those who felt it their duty to abandon 
orthodox national worships. She told William Penn that 
God had reached her in 1668 at the age of fifty, and that 
by an extraordinary way. She had been to some extent 
attracted by De Labadie, of whom we have heard, who 
went under the name of Quaker, and Robert Barclay had 
already visited her to acquaint her with the life and 
testimony of Friends. Elisabeth cordially invited them 
to come to see her, writing a charming letter minimising 
what she had been able to do, and concluding, " But this 
a mere moral man can reach at. The true inward graces 
are yet wanting in your affectionate friend, Elisabeth." 
The three days which they spent with her must have been 
a very wonderful time. They met at seven o'clock in 
the morning, on a Friday, and stayed with her till eleven, 
apparently engaged in religious exercises most of the time. 
They declined her invitation to dine, but offered to come 
again in the afternoon. Two o'clock was fixed. 

" It was at this Meeting that the Lord in a more eminent 
manner began to appear. The Eternal Word showed itself a 
Hammer at this Day ; yea, sharper than a Two-edged Sword, 
dividing asunder between the Soul and the Spirit, the Joints and 
the Marrow. Yea, this Day was all Flesh humbled before the 
Lord ; it amazed one, struck another, broke another : Yea, the 
Noble Arm of the Lord was truly awakened, and the Weight 
and Work thereof bowed and tendered us also after an unusual 
and extraordinary Manner ; that the Lord might work an 
Heavenly sign before them and among them ; that the Majesty 
of Him that is risen among the poor Quakers might in some 
Measure be known unto them ; what God it is we serve, and what 
Power it is we wait for and bow before. Yea, they had a Sense 
and a Discovery that Day, what would become of the Glory of all 
Flesh, when God shall enter into Judgment. Well, let my Right 
Hand forget its Cunning, and my Tongue cleave to the Roof of 
my Mouth, when I shall forget the Loving Kindness of the Lord, 



HOLLAND AND GERMANY in 

and the sure Mercies of our God to us His Travelling Servants 
that Day. O Lord, send forth thy Light and thy Truth, that 

all Nations may behold thy Glory." 

It was seven o'clock before they left. Next morning 
they went again between eight and nine, when William 
Penn had a meeting with the inferior servants of the house, 
who would have been " bashful " to have presented them- 
selves before the Princess. At twelve they went back to 
the Inn, and had important conversations with strangers 
from Bremen, which resulted in a connection with that 
city and the spread of literature. At three in the after- 
noon, they returned to the Princess, who asked William 
Penn to fulfil a promise made in one of his letters to give 
them an account of his first convincement. After a 
period of silence he began, but it was supper time before 
he had half done, so, yielding to importunity. Friends 
stayed there to supper and afterwards resumed the narra- 
tive till about eleven at night. Yet many particulars 
were omitted " partly through forgetfulness and partly 
for want of time." A verbatim report of that stirring 
narrative would have been invaluable to a biographer. 

On First day morning Friends had a private meeting 
alone in their chamber, and at two o'clock in the after- 
noon held a larger meeting with several townsmen present. 
After it the Princess took William Penn by the hand and 
would have spoken, but 

" turning herself to the window, she brake forth in an extra- 
ordinary passion, saying, ' I cannot speak to you, my heart is 
full,' clapping her hands upon her breast. It melted me into a 
deep and calm tenderness, in which I was moved to minister a 
few words softly to her, and after some time of silence she 
recovered herself, and as I was taking my leave of her she inter- 
rupted me thus : ' Will ye not come here again ? ' " 

She asked them to supper, but they appear to have felt 
a certain delicacy about her hospitality, asked to be excused, 
and just had a little refreshment in the room where they 



112 WILLIAM PENN 

were, and after a final farewell in the evening the party 
left their friends " in the love and peace of God, praying that 
they might be kept from the evil of this world." With the 
Princess there resided a Countess de Homes, the Countess's 
sister, and a Frenchwoman, whose name William Penn 
does not seem to have remembered. Elisabeth died three 
years later, at the age of sixty-two, having done her part 
as a Princess and a mother to her httle principality. 
She may fairly be counted a Friend, though there were 
no lists of members in her day. It was a remarkable 
thing that out of the degenerate race of the Stuarts two 
women should arise who accepted the Quaker testimony, 
one a Princess Palatine of the Rhine, the other a humble 
weaver at Wisbech, Jane Stuart, the natural daughter of 
James II. There is considerable correspondence extant 
between Friends and their Princess, long hortatory letters 
from George Fox, William Penn, and Robert Barclay, 
and shorter replies full of modest aspiration after higher 
spiritual attainment. William Penn visited her again on 
his return northwards and held another series of fellowship 
meetings at her house. Doubtless to the Princess also 
and her friends these occasions were memorable, Robert 
Barclay, William Penn and George Keith were all young 
men in the neighbourhood of thirty years of age, to whom 
she could speak as a scholar to scholars, remarkable, all 
of them, in their personal dignity, showing in the nobility 
and beauty of their face? and carriage the strength of their 
inward life. Robert Barclay, through his mother, 
Catharine Gordon, was descended from the Stuart Kings, 
and was indeed third cousin to the Princess. He was the 
son of the famous Colonel David Barclay, who, in the Civil 
Wars, had held the northern half of Scotland for King and 
Covenant in 1648, and as a member of Oliver's Parliament 
in 1656 had strenuously opposed his taking the title of 
King.* Admiral Penn, also, was a name well-known 
to Prince Rupert's sister. George Keith was a mathe- 

* " Jafiray and Friends in Scotland," p. 353. 



HOLLAND AND GERMANY 113 

matician of the University of Aberdeeri, one of the inner 
circle of Quaker leaders at that time, and a man of great 
personal force. These must have been great days for the 
quiet little German court. It is now known as Herford, 
and is in the north-east corner of Westphalia. 

Robert Barclay now returned to Amsterdam and to 
Scotland. His Apology had been published in Latin the 
year before, and was put into English by the author and 
published in England in 1678. How he managed to put 
in a journey of this kind between is one of the wonderful 
things concerning that marvellous man, who, at the age 
of twenty-eight, could produce his learned defence of 
Quakerism. He found it the inspired faith of peasants, 
and defended it in a book worthy to meet and shatter 
Calvin's Institutes in the theological schools of Europe. 

William Penn and George Keith went on alone through 
many towns of the Rhine provinces, through Saxony, 
Hanover and the Hanseatic towns. Everywhere they 
found out the few who were like-minded to their mystical 
message, or who were known to be dissastisfied with the 
established Lutheranism. Sometimes these had been 
already nicknamed Quakers, a fact which throws curious 
light upon the extent to which, even in those days of 
slow communication, the fame of the followers of Fox 
had spread. Penn writes " There is a breathing, hunger- 
ing, seeking people solitarily scattered up and down this 
great land of Germany, where the Lord hath sent me, and 
I believe it is the like in other nations, and as the Lord 
hath laid it upon us, with my companions, to seek some 
of them out, so have we found several in divers places." 
They were mostly ladies of quality, with a few professional 
men. The common people in Germany at this time were 
practically serfs, and the men of the upper classes devoted 
to war, to be slain or slaying. One great town, Oldenburg, 
they found in ruins. Penn describes it as a great 
dark land ; this must have oppressed his spirit, 
particularly when he came to a dark Popish city. In 



114 WILLIAM PENN 

these they never attempted to stay. It would seem 
as though in Germany there was not, to any extent, a 
prepared soil for Quakerism as a popular movement. 
It seemed to require Puritanism, or some external 
acquaintance with religion, as the soil in which to grow 
its mystical plant. One of their most interesting visits 
was to Wiewart, the mansion-house of the family of the 
Somerdykes, where De Labadie's company now resided. 
They seem to have been a little company of scholarly 
men and women who lived retired from the world and had 
adopted silent worship, the preaching of women, spontaneous 
ministry, plainness in dress and furniture. Although 
William Penn describes them as being " somewhat in the 
mixture,'' he had a useful time with them, each telling 
the other of their religious experiences in true fellowship. 
They met George Fox again at Amsterdam, and after 
three days of a stormy and dangerous passage they 
reached England. William Penn spent a week on the 
business of Friends in London, and at last reached home 
after an absence of a hundred days, in much thankfulness 
to find his family well. " I had that evening a sweet 
meeting amongst them, in which God's blessed power 
made us truly glad together." 



CHAPTER XI 

High Politics 

I678-I680. 

We have followed the marvellous energy and untiring 
labour of William Penn in many spheres of activity. 
He drew in these years on a well-spring of force that never 
dried up. We have noted in calm record the strain 
which must have been his as conqueror of his own soul's 
freedom, in solitary opposition to his family, in prolonged 
and repeated imprisonments. We have seen him scorn 
delights and live laborious days, as scholar, preacher, 
writer on religion, ethics and politics, as controversialist, 
as missionary, building up Quakerism on the continent, 
tireless in the administration of the Society and the relief 
of sufferings. We must now follow him breathlessly 
into one more sphere of service. For some two years 
he was one of the leaders of an English political party. 

The year 1678 began the crisis in our national history 
towards which the wretched misconduct and sordid mis- 
government of Charles II. had been leading up. The 
Court had for seventeen years sheltered its incapacity 
behind the servile Pension Parliament, elected in a burst 
of Royalist enthusiasm in 1661, and managed of late years 
by Danby's systematic bribery. The gaols were full of 
Friends. It is stated that three hundred and fifty Friends 
had died in gaol since the King came back.* The Church 

* Dr. Stoughton, referring to Neale's " History of the Puritans," 
Vol. II. John S. Rowntree gives 321 as the number who died in prison 
in Charles II. 's reign. 

"5 



ii6 WILLIAM PENN 

was at its lowest. The Government was in the pay of 
Louis XIV, and relied on a French army to put down 
an English revolt. There can have been few darker 
periods than this in all our history. 

The political arena was triangular in shape, the 
straight issue between royal misgovernment and popular 
liberties was complicated by religious divisions. And 
of these there were three — the Roman Catholic, the 
Anglican, and the Nonconformist. 

The Anglican Church had been restored to power with 
the Crown, and under its patronage and by Acts of 
Parliament which were responsible deeds of the govern- 
ment, had fiercely persecuted the Protestant Noncon- 
formists. The clergy had been persecuted themselves 
under the Commonwealth, but the unfortunates who bore 
the brunt of their revenge were the innocent Friends, 
against whom both Anglican Priest and Nonconformist 
Professor wielded all the power they had. The Church 
had always been Tory, monarchical, established, and 
would have liked to continue to enjoy the Royal favour, 
exclusive privileges and the revenues that had once been 
Roman. 

But all this appeared to be in danger of slipping away. 
Charles was secretly a Catholic. His wife, some of his 
mistresses, and his brother James, Duke of York, were 
openly of the same faith. And James was almost 
certain to be King if he survived his brother. He had 
recently married Mary of Modena, an Italian girl, and 
their son, if they had one, would continue the Catholic 
succession ; and that might mean the restoration of 
positions and benefices, and much harm to souls and 
bodies. The reliance of the Court upon French subsidies, 
which was guessed at, legitimately caused profound 
uneasiness. 

This Catholic turn of the Royal family brought them 
into an external sympathy with the Nonconformist cry 
for toleration. Friends had profited by the Act of 



M 



HIGH POLITICS 117 

Indulgence of 1673, though it was intended for the 
CathoUcs' benefit. 

In sympathy, however, Friends were with the old 
party of the Commonwealth men, now scattered and 
abased. The first Earl of Shaftesbury, the Anthony 
Ashley Cooper of the Commonwealth, an unprincipled, 
volatile politician, was the avowed champion of the Whigs 
and of Nonconformity; and that brilliant popinjay, the 
Duke of Buckingham, from time to time flattered himself 
that he had great influence with the Dissenters. William 
Penn frequently urged him to be of use to them, and he 
was for a while. But the true and only surviving leader 
of the men of the great period returned in 1677 from exile, 
in the person of Algernon Sidney. 

Most truly, however. Friends belonged to none of the 
ruling parties of the past, but to the struggling party of 
the future, the brave and growing company to whom was 
committed the great cause of Religious Toleration, 
toleration for no sectarian advantage, but for itself, for 
human dignity and honesty, and for the peace and health 
of the State. The leader of that party was William Penn. 

So that we are now to think of William Penn and 
Algernon Sidney as heads of the stalwarts on the Whig 
side, working loosely in alliance with Shaftesbury, and 
at times with such men as Sunderland and Halifax, when 
the wind blew these politicians in their direction. Robert 
Spencer, Earl of Sunderland, was Sidney's nephew, 
the son of Dorothy Sidney, the Sacharissa of the poet 
Waller, and had been the comrade of William Penn in 
youthful days in France. He was to become in turn 
counsellor to James II. and to William III. and to invent 
Cabinet government. He was always of ramshackle 
morals, but acute in his intellect. 

Algernon Sidney belonged to a famous and brilliant 
family, touching English history at many points already. 
He had carried nobly his sword and his counsel through 
the first Civil War. He had differed from Cromwell 



ii8 WILLIAM PENN 

and the arm}', when they decided to try the King for his 
life. He thought this hopelessly illegal and the King's 
execution practically unwise ; when his advice was 
rejected he left public life and retired to Penshurst, the 
family home in Kent, He was one of the group of con- 
vinced Republicans who could not follow Cromwell into 
a Protectorate more than royal as well as less. He was 
abroad at the Restoration and was not allowed to come 
back for seventeen years. He refused to disown 
Republicanism, or to regret the past — though willing in 
practice to live under a monarchy which had been 
approved by Parliament. To maintain the integrity 
of his mind he chose poverty, home sickness, and 
apparently wasted years. He was allowed back in 1677, 
to his father's death bed. His name, his character, and 
his history, pointed him out as the leader of those who 
had not bowed the knee to Baal, and he decided to try 
to enter the next Parliament. 

But before the Pension Parliament came to an end, 
William Penn had a notable service before it. Friends 
were suffering a penalty of £20 a month, worth not less 
than ;^,ioo now, or two thirds of their estates, for not 
attending church. A single fact like this shows not only 
the difference but the flaming contrast between Christ 
and the organised church of the day. Under it ' Many 
hundreds of families were threatened with daily spoil and 
ruin." Parliament had the intention of inserting a 
clause allowing Protestants to escape from a new Bill 
against Popery, by taking an appropriate oath. Friends 
could not take the oath, and were likely to enter upon a 
new baptism of particularly vicarious suffering. Through 
William Penn they presented petitions to the Lords and 
the Commons asking to be allowed to affirm. The House 
appointed a committee to consider the grievances of 
Protestant Nonconformists, and the extent to which they 
were suffering from penal laws intended for Roman 
Catholics. In March of 1678, this Committee heard 



HIGH POLITICS 1 19 

evidence from William Penn. Before it he made two 
speeches. He said that he had been " supposed a Papist, 
a seminary, a Jesuit, an emissary of Rome," and that 
Friends 

" had been at the woolsacks, and common whipping stocks of 
the Kingdom. All laws have been let loose upon us, as if the 
design were not to reform us, but destroy us, and that not for 
what we are, but for what we are not ; 'tis hard that we must thus 
bear the stripes of another interest, and be their proxy in 
punishment." 

So far his line would be easily appreciated, but he went 
on to more startling doctrine. 

" I would not be mistaken : I am far from thinking it fit that 
Papists should be whipped for their consciences, because I exclaim 
against the injustice of whipping Quakers for Papists." " We 
do not mean that any should have a fresh aim at them . . . 
for we must give the hberty we ask . . . and persecution 
does not seem to me to be convincing, or indeed adequate to the 
reason of mankind."* 

The Committee reported in favour of a clause relieving 
Friends ; it passed the Commons, but before it had passed 
the Lords Parliament was suddenly prorogued, and soon 
afterwards the Pension Parliament, the longest in English 
history, ended the seventeen years of its miserable life. 
An impeachment of the chief minister, Danby, was 
threatened. The charge of corruption would be easy to 
prove against him. But his unpopularity was due to 
another cause. Danby was an AngUcan Tory, and hated 
the King to be in the pay of the Catholic Louis XIV. 
He had striven against ^he secret French connection, 
and Louis wanted him out of the way. Danby, rather 
than lose his place, had reluctantly written his master's 
begging letters to Louis through Montague, the English 
ambassador in Paris. These the ambassador on his return 
published in the House of Commons. To save Danby, 

* "Works," Vol. I., p. 1 18-9. 



120 WILLIAM PENN 

that is to avoid further revelations of his own treason to his 
country, Charles prorogued Parliament in the autumn of 
1678, and finally dissolved it in January, 1679. 

William Penn would not take an oath himself, and so 
could not sit in Parliament, but he devoted himself to 
the election of Algernon Sidney. 

The country was in the throes of panic. The " Popish 
Plot " of Titus Gates had been launched in August of 
1678. It figures largely in every history of England, for 
it constitutes one of our national tragedies. Gates was an 
evil-lookmg man, whose forehead was so small and chin 
so large, that his mouth was exactly in the middle of his 
face ; out of it issued an affected and curious drawl. 
This criminal aspect was truth-telling. Gates had lost 
his orders in the Church of England for crime ; had become 
a Jesuit at Valladolid and St. Gmer ; turned out thence he 
needed a new opening and issued a fabricated story of an 
organised attack by Papists on British Protestantism, 
supported by a French army. Its methods were murder 
and arson. The story was well filled with horrors, and 
enlarged and imitated by other seekers after profit. 
The fact, of course, was that there was a real Popish plot 
fixed up in 1670, by the two criminal kings, at Dover. 
There was a prevailing nervousness about Popery. We 
must remember that it was only seventy-three years since 
the Gunpowder Plot, of which the memory was kept alive 
by annual celebrations ; and that if the dynasty lapsed 
into Popery men might expect a repetition of the days of 
Bloody Mary. Some suspicious papers found belonging 
to a Jesuit, and the unexplained murder of the Justice 
who had heard Gates's testimony, were worked up in the 
true spirit of modern sensational newspapers. Both 
Penn and Sidney joined in the demand for investigation. 
Shaftesbury fed the plot from the Whig side with reckless 
avidity, " whether given to us by the right or the left 
hand of Providence." By so doing he ruined the cause 
of English liberty by harnessing it to a lie. He made 



HIGH POLITICS 121 

the further mistake of using the plot . to try to exclude 
James from the throne in favour of the illegitimate 
Duke of Monmouth, a son of Charles's youthful exile 
period. From the Tory side Danby laboured to extend 
the excitement, and the country lost the guidance of reason. 
A terrible persecution of English Cathohcs took place, 
and lasted two or three years, till the balloon of Gates 
leaked itself flat by the summer of 1681: for nothing 
happened to the terrified nation all those three years, 

Guildford was selected as the constituency for Algernon 
Sidney to contest. The election lasted three weeks. 
Drink and food were provided for the voters ; violence 
and fraud were rampant. William Penn did not shrink 
from the unpleasant task of persuading Demos. He worked 
at persuasion in private and in public. The Recorder 
tried to silence him at the hustings ; for the Court was 
interfering with all its force in the election. Paupers 
were brought out, soldiers were released if they would 
vote against Sidney. When he was finally elected the 
Recorder dared not report it, and dared rather to quash the 
election, on the ground that Sidney was not a freeman 
of the borough. He had offered to become one, but had 
been refused. A petition against this tyrannical inter- 
ference with elections was actively promoted by William 
Penn. However the King found this Parliament so 
severely Protestant and so aggressive that he dissolved it 
before the petition had been heard. It sat from March 
to May, 1679. This, the first of three short Parliaments, 
had put Danby in the Tower, and passed the Habeas 
Corpus Act to stop illegal imprisonments. It had given 
the second reading to the first Exclusion Bill, It was to 
save his brother's succession that the King dissolved it. 

After the dissolution of the first short ParUament, 
and in anxious preparation for the second, William Penn 
wrote an election address to the voters, called England's 
Great Interest in the Choice of a New Parliament. He 
points out the unheard of crisis the country was passing 



122 WILLIAM PENN 

through, in which everything depended upon the con- 
stancy, courage and honesty of the electorate. "To be 
plain with you : All is at Stake." The Plot must be 
tracked out and punished : — Evil counsellors (no doubt, 
Danby, Lauderdale and others) must be brought to justice ; 
Pensioners of the former Parliament must be punished ; 
Parliaments must be frequent and limited in duration ; 
we must be secured from Popery and slavery, and Protes- 
tant Dissenters must be eased ; and on these conditions, 
" the King should be eased on the business of his revenue." 
The essential rights of Englishmen, property in life, 
liberty or estate, legislative and executive power, and 
trial by Jury, should be restored. This can only come 
about by choosing the right men. The central political 
sin, bribery, is earnestly attacked. 

" Such as give money to be chosen would get money by being 
chosen. They desire not to serve you, but to serve themselves 
of you : and then fare you well." 

Drinking at elections is treated next. 

" Must we always owe our Parliaments to rioting and drunken- 
ness ? and must men be made incapable of all choice before they 
choose their legislature ? " 

The electors were urged not to select as candidates, 
reputed pensioners, officers at the court, indigent or 
ambitious men or men about town, prodigal or voluptuous 
persons, but to choose men of industry and improvement, 
brave men, sincere Protestants. He believed with others 
that concealed Papists might be detected by their " laughing 
at the Plot, disgracing the evidence, admiring the Traitors' 
constancy." Thus is even a wise man to some extent a 
creature of his times. He finally begs the electors to lay 
to heart 

" the grievous spoils and ruins their harmless neighbours (Friends) 
had suffered for twenty years. Sixty pounds have been dis- 
trained for twelve, two hundred pounds for sixty pounds. The 
flocks have been taken out of the fold, the herd from the stall ; 



HIGH POLITICS 123 

not a cow left to give milk to the orphan, nor a bed for the widow 
to lie on ; whole barns of corn swept away and not a penny 
returned." 

He signed himself, and with good reason, " Philanglus." 
When the Parliament met he wrote them a longer tract. 
One Project for the Good of England, on the lines with which 
we are now familiar. The definite proposal in this book 
was a new Test, in lieu of the exclusively Anghcan test 
now in vogue. This new Test would have barred out 
Roman CathoUcs. It was to be read out and subscribed 
by everybody in every town and village. In the height of 
the Plot that was as far as the great leader of Toleration 
himself could go. We have seen him in 1678 addressing 
a Parliamentary Committee in favour of toleration to 
Catholic opinion. He would not have them persecuted. 
But as potential traitors and oppressors he, like the best 
men then living, dreaded their entry into public affairs 
The English fear of the Pope was at this time political 
rather than rehgious. The Church of Rome still aimed 
at the conversion and subjugation of England ; and even 
Penn thought he could not afford to open the Government 
to its followers. That, he said, which produces a blind 
obedience in Religion will also produce a bhnd obedience 
in civil government.* 

For the next election a little place called Bramber in 
Sussex one of the pocket boroughs of 1832, was attempted 
by Sidney and his brother-in-arms. The local influence 
of both was strong thereabouts. To counteract the Sidney 
influence for Algernon, his brother Henry, the rake of the 
family, was brought up as his rival by their common 
nephew Sunderland. Henry was away on a Royal 
mission in Holland, and the disgrace of the affair was 
Sunderland's. Penn worked hard every day, and ran the 
election. The votes were equal, and the casting vote was 
given for Algernon. But when Parliament met the Court 

♦ Works, Vol. II., p 69. 



124 WILLIAM PENN 

again had the return annulled. Such was democracy in 
those days ; such was family faith ; such was the power 
of the Court. Though elected in 1679, this, the second 
short Parliament, was perpetually prorogued, and only 
actually sat from October, 1680 to January, 1681. 

We cannot here follow the poHtical story of the next 
few years— the three Exclusion Bills, the collapse of the 
Plot, the final victory of the Court in 1682, supported by 
a large subsidy from France which made Charles indepen- 
dent of Parliament. The King and the Duke used their 
day of power to bring Algernon Sidney to the block. By 
that time, 1683, William Penn, despairing of English 
politics, was far away in Pennsylvania. 

The feeling of hopeless misery over the state of England 
which filled the hearts of good men, and which has no 
parallel in our time, is expressed in unrestrained lamen- 
tation in the letter Penn wrote to the " Children of Light " 
i.e., to Friends, in the early days of the Plot, September, 
1678. He had received from the Lord, repeatedly, with 
a fresh and strong life : 

" To thy tents, O Israel ! 
To thy tents, O Israel ! 
God is Thy tent : to thy God, Israel ! " 

He said that through Friends the Heavenly Seed of 
righteousness must shine to others in these rough times, 
and make an end of the intolerable sins of the nation! 
" We are the people above all others that must stand in 
the gap, and pray for the putting away of the wrath, so 
as that this land may not be made ah utter desolation ; 
and God expects it at our hands." There is no shirking 
of political duty here, but the sense of call and responsi- 
bility that has been ours so often, and is ours to-day once 
more. 

He concludes, with the kind of authority George Fox 
used : " I desire that this Epistle may be read in the fear 
of the Lord in your several meetings." The Epistle 



HIGH POLITICS 125 

does not contain any definite political guidance. It is an 
exhortation to faithfulness and trust in God. 

By way of occupying his part in this high steward- 
ship, William Penn wrote, in 1679, An Address to Pro- 
testants upon the present Conjunctme. It runs to one 
hundred large folio pages, or 90,000 words,* and it found 
great acceptance " from those who valued religion for the 
sake of piety, more than out of interest or formality," 
and a second edition was required in 1692. It is not 
unlike No Cross, No Crown in subject. Its appeal was for 
a moral reformation, and for Toleration as the solvent of 
rehgious discords. Of certain, " not of the lowest 
Quality, " he said, " Strong Drink is often the beginning 
and top of their friendship,"! " From one of the cleanest 
people under the Heaven, I fear, we are become one of the 
most unchaste, at least in and about London. The French 
have sufficiently revenged themselves upon us by the 
loose manners they have brought amongst us."t " But 
they keep their wits in their debaucheries, we, overdoing 
it, lose them. Profaneness must pass for wit."t Fine 
dress " opens doors, gets access, obtains dispatches, 
carries away the cap and the knee from most other 
pretences." J William Penn on Luxury is always fine. 
He knew it from the inside and had rejected it. His 
appeal concerning the waste of the rich was always to the 
poverty of the poor. " The Book of Cookery, has out- 
grown the Bible, and is more in use. Twelve penny- 
worth of Flesh, with five shillings of cookery, may happen 
to make a fashionable dish."§ He goes on to swearing, 
gambling, and profanity. " A man is reputed of no 
sense or salt who cannot jeer devotion." |1 In reference 
to these sins, he exhorted the magistrates first to repent of 
them themselves, and then punish them in others. 
Historical examples of nations destroyed by vice are then 
given with great fulness out of the author's sxores of 

* "Works," Vol. I., pp. 721-821. 

t p. 723- : p- 725- § p- 727- II p- 732. 



126 WILLIAM PENN 

learning. He urges our responsibility to hand over an 
undecayed nation to the future, and presses the need of 
education ; and concludes Part I. with urging our res- 
ponsibility to God. Part II. deals with ecclesiastical 
abuses — five in number — making opinions into articles 
of faith and the bond of Christian Society — mistaking the 
true faith — debasing the true value of moraUty — pre- 
ferring authority to reason and truth — and propagating 
faith by force.* The tragic story of errors, generally 
known as Church history, supplied the eloquent author 
with ample material. He makes free and powerful use 
of the Scripture ; and the treatise must have been as 
convincing to its readers as the truth of its positions 
deserved. Janney (pp. 142-147) has given a full summary 
of this typical Quaker utterance. It is, however, a book 
which now possesses only a historical and biographical 
interest. That the Society was able thus to make 
such a wise contribution to the consideration of the crisis 
is a cause for gladness and of gratitude to William Penn. 

He had now tried every door that might have given 
him an opening to the help of England — had addressed 
Friends, Protestants electors. Parliament — had done the 
dirty work of two contested elections. But Friends were 
still suffering " spoil and ruin." Imprisonment unto 
death was still the lot of hundreds. During the autumn 
of 1680, Penn wrote three prefaces, signed by himself 
with others, to statistical records of sufferings, appealing 
to the Short ParHament then sitting to redress the griev- 
ances of Friends. From county to county went, like a 
band of locusts, idle, dissolute informers, making spoil 
for themselves of Friends' property. The accused were 
left by the Conventicle Act at the mercy of a single 
magistrate, and EUzabeth's Acts against Popish recusants 
were freely used against them. 

The circumstances were such that the colony of Penn- 
sylvania was due to be born. 

* p. 744- 



CHAPTER XII 

The Charter ot Pennsylvania 
1680-1681 

The oppression of the early Stuarts had produced 
the Pilgrim Fathers and New England. The second and, 
I think, greater and longer oppression under Charles II. 
produced New Jersey and Pennsylvania. To its birth 
events conspired as in a romance. 

Without William Penn's combination of resources 
and qualities the great experiment could not have been 
made. He possessed both the ear of the Court and, 
what was more to the point, a heavy financial claim on 
the King. He was also thoroughly interested and 
experienced as a coloniser, through his control in New 

Jersey. 

His personal friendliness to his guardian, the Duke 
of York, and his known harmlessness and freedom from 
intrigue, made him acceptable at Court, even though 
so notoriously mixed up with the republican Sidney. 
No man feared double dealing or betrayal from him. 
So he had still many friends of title and influence at 
Whitehall ; and he was himself a pleasant and attractive 
acquaintance for anybody to own. 

The fortunate claim against the Crown left him by 
his father the Admiral, consisting of loans and arrears of 
pay, had mounted up with interest to £16,000. And 
there was no way of paying it. If the creditor would 
accept any number of square miles in the western 
wilderness instead of money, the King would be only too 



128 WILLIAM PENN 

glad. No doubt William Penn's open advocacy of 
political reform and of a republican candidate, (though 
no republican himself), had been undertaken with the 
knowledge that he was thereby jeopardising a large part 
of his fortune. For Charles did not stick at repudiation. 
In 1672 he did it on a large scale. But happily this 
risk did not materialise. In Penn's opinion, however, 
it would have done so, but for the offer to take it out in 
land in America. 

The opponents of the Quaker migration were of a 
coarser, more terrestrial type than those heavenly powers 
who opposed the voyage of Aeneas to the Ausonian land 
in the West, but they were not on that account to be 
despised ; and they caused much irritating delay. 
William Penn would never have got his charter but for 
the friendliness and support of the Duke of York, who 
stood by his promise to his dying colleague, the Admiral. 
So that Philadelphia after all owes its existence to that 
misguided man. King James II. It is the more creditable 
to James, in that William Penn had been engaged in a 
lawsuit against him on behalf of the colonists of New 
Jersey. We have seen that the whole American dominion, 
called formerly New Netherlands, had been handed over 
to James as his property ; and from him the proprietors 
had bought New Jersey. The Duke endeavoured, how- 
ever, after he had parted with the ownership, to continue 
a five per cent, import and export tax. Acting on an 
urgent request from the colonists, Penn had succeeded in 
the courts in getting rid of the tax, at the expense of 
his most influential friend. His powerful plea on their 
behalf is printed by Janney (pp. 160-2). 

Penn's supporters, in his negotiations for a colonial 
charter, were the Earl of Sunderland, formerly his youthful 
friend Robert Spencer, Lord Hyde, Chief Justice North 
and the Earl of Halifax ; no mean list of names, for 
Sunderland and Halifax were the chief politicians opposing 
the Exclusion Bill. 






? 7>€liSSACHllSZTTS\ 

i car 1 « < 




I 



THE CHARTER OF PENNSYLVANIA 129 

In June 1680 Penn petitioned the Committee of the 
Privy Council on Trade and Plantations — a sort of embryo 
Colonial Office — for a grant of " land, lying north of 
Maryland, bounded on the East by the Delaware river, 
on the west limited as Maryland, and to extend 
north as far as plantable." He was called in and 
explained that three degrees of latitude would 
satisfy him ; and this was granted, from the fortieth to the 
forth-third parallel. But unfortunately for the Com- 
mittee's geography, there were not three degrees between 
the colonies of New York and Maryland. This was the 
beginning of much trouble with Lord Baltimore. The 
territory was stated in the charter to cover five degrees 
of longitude west from the Delaware. The territory as 
finally fixed was nearly three hundred miles from east to 
west and 160 miles from north to south ; it covered 47,000 
square miles, almost as large as England. The State of 
New Jersey occupies a peninsula running south from New 
York, and separated on the west from the mainland by 
the river and estuary of the Delaware. Westward across 
this dividing water lay the new territory. Its access to 
the sea was down the long river estuary. 

The Committee was presided over by the drunken 
Duke of Albemarle, son of General George Monk. With 
him were Henry Compton, Bishop of London, who after- 
wards invited William of Orange over, and Secretary 
Jenkyns. Sir John Werden, acting for the Duke of York, 
was favourable, reserving the Duke's rights in what is now 
the State of Delaware. The agents of Lord Baltimore sub- 
mitted that the southern boundary should be a line east 
and west drawn north of Susquehannah Fort. This Penn 
accepted. They also asked that no ammunition should be 
sold across this frontier to the Indians. Penn obligingly 
agreed to submit to any restrictions on that head that 
their lordships might impose. By November i8th, 
1680, a draft grant was written out, and referred to the 
Attorney- General. By January, 1681, the boundaries 



130 WILLIAM PENN 

were supposed to be settled by Lord Chief Justice North. 
On February ist came a demand from the Bishop of 
London that an AngUcan chaplain, of his lordship's 
appointment, should be paid out of the state revenues 
on the request of a certain number, fixed at twenty, 
planters. Thus to saddle the Quaker colony with an 
established church, to begin with, may have been good 
business, but it was not good conduct. Bishops have 
often shone as negotiators. 

The charter was signed by the King on 14th March, 
168 1. It is still kept, hung in the State House at Harris- 
burg, as the great treasure of the State. No book of the 
law and the testimony was ever more honoured. It is 
gorgeously emblazoned on strong parchment rolls. 

The well known story of the naming of the Province 
is most simply given in William Penn's letter to his friend 
Robert Turner. 

" 5th of ist mo., 1681. 
" Dear Friend : — My true love in the Lord salutes thee and 
dear friends that love the Lord's precious truth in those parts. 
Thine I have, and for my business here, know that after many 
waitings, watchings, solicitings, and disputes in council, this 
day my country was confirmed to me under the great seal of 
England, with large powers and privileges, by the name of 
Pennsylvania ; a name the King would give it in honour of my 
father. I chose New Wales, being, as this, a pretty hilly country, 
but Penn being Welsh for a head, as Penmanmoire in Wales, 
and Penrith in Cumberland, and Penn in Buckinghamshire, 
the highest land in England, called this Pennsylvania, which is 
the high or head woodlands ; for I proposed, when the Secretary, 
a Welshman, refused to have it called New Wales, Sylvania, and 
they added Penn to it ; and though I much opposed it, and went 
to the King to have it struck out and altered, he said it was past, 
and would take it upon him ; nor could twenty guineas move the 
under secretary to vary the name ; for I feared lest it should be 
looked upon as a vanity in me, and not as a respect in the King, as 
it truly was, to my father, whom he often mentions with praise. 
Thou mayest communicate my grant to Friends, and expect 
shortly my proposals. 



THE CHARTER OF PENNSYLVANIA 131 

" It is a clear and just thing, and my God that has given it me 
through many difficulties, \vill, I beUeve, bless and make it the 
seed of a nation. I shall have a tender care to the government, 
that it be well laid at first. No more now, but dear love in the 
truth. Thy true friend, 

"Wm. Penn." 

The Attorney General took care that all the royal 
rights were preserved, and the dependence of the colony 
upon the mother country assured. William Penn was 
made the owner of the whole territory, with right to 
appoint magistrates, hold courts, sell land. The pro- 
prietor and people had the right of legislation, which was 
to be subject to the approval of the King in Council. 
He might grant pardons, except for murder and treason, 
and these cases he might reprieve, pending a reference tc 
the King. The royal privileges ran in Pennsylvania as in 
England. Parliament still controlled foreign com- 
merce. The province was strictly limited to trading wdth 
England only. Goods, after lying in England something 
less than a year and paying customs, might be transhipped. 
The full right to levy taxes was reserved, with historical 
consequences of no mean moment. Certain appeals 
against the Colonial Courts might go to England.* 

Thus was launched the great enterprise of this vigorous 
and devoted career. And yet, like most other great 
deeds, it arose, as we have seen, naturally and inevitably 
out of that man being in that place at that cime. 

The problem now — a difficulty never really solved, and 
inherent in the case — was how to build a free democracy 
on the foundation of an independent lord proprietorship 
of the soil, out of such powers as the landowner was, 
however gladly and graciously, willing to bestow. 

Penn's life had now reached the beginning of its 
meridian period. The founding of a colony where there 

* Enormously long Pennsylvania Papers in the State Paper Office 
record these transactions. They are also collected in Watson's " Annals 
of Pennsylvania." 



^ 



,132 WILLIAM PENN 

might be freedom and peace, far from a wicked and worn- 
out world, was a task worthy of the greatest and happiest 
of mankind. And in the clouds of trouble that it brought 
him for the next thirty years, we see the hero suffering 
for the race. 

There were already in the colony a few Swedes, sent 
out long before by Gustavus Adolphus, a few Dutch of an 
earlier date, and some Friends who had wandered across 
from New Jersey. It contained 2,000 people altogether, 
and there were three Swedish Churches and three Friends' 
Meeting Houses in the colony. To these residents 
William Penn issued a friendly, reassuring letter. He sent 
it out by a Deputy Governor, his young soldier-cousin, 
William Markham. He could hardly send a Friend, 
because in the matter of oaths and vain titles and in the 
matter of the use of force if needed, while Friends them- 
selves had scruples, it might be necessary for some one to 
be ready to act, who did not share these testimonies. 
For the colony was not a free state, but a part of the 
British Empire. Markham saw Lord Baltimore at Upland 
on the Delaware, now Chester. They there found that the 
fortieth parallel of latitude, supposed to meet a circle drawn 
twelve miles round New Castle, a place much to the south 
of Chester, was really at least twelve miles north of Chester 
itself. There were, in fact, not three degrees of latitude 
available for Pennsylvania. It was clear that William 
Penn had better try to obtain from the Duke of York 
his settlements further down the Delaware on its western 
bank, now the State of Delaware. This was ultimately 
accomplished ; and these districts, known as the Terri- 
tories, became the centre of much controversy in 
Pennsylvanian history. 

The boundary dispute was no small matter. Under 
Lord Baltimore's largest claim he would have included 
Philadelphia itself, and under Penn's largest, he would 
have included Baltimore. 



CHAPTER XIII 

The Colonists and the Frame of 
Government 

1681-2 

The Founder's next task was to gather his colonists. 
He drew up his proposals in a prospectus of a somewhat 
unusual kind. It was necessary first to argue that 
colonies are good for the mother country. Many in that 
day thought that they drained off population and wealth. 
That is not a common heresy nowadays. The truth 
which now needs emphasis is that colonies may be 
equally profitable to us even if under the government of 
another nation, if there is an open door. Even if there 
is not an open door, the colonies of other nations are 
still greatly to our advantage, as contributors to inter- 
national trade, in which we have a large share. Every- 
thing bought or sold anywhere has its reaction everywhere. 

Penn was able to offer free government, excellent 
rivers and harbours, rich and varied forests and fisheries. 
The vast mineral wealth which has made Pennsylvania 
the greatest manufacturing state in America, he could 
not foresee. 

He offered shares of 5,000 acres each for £100 ; or 
land at 4^ pence per acre, or forty shillings per hundred 
acres, subject to a quit rent of a shilling per hundred 
acres, not to begin till 1684. On these quit rents he 
hoped to maintain the cost of government. Several people 
might join to take up a share. Those who could not afford 

133 



134 WILLIAM PENN 

to buy land at all might rent up to two hundred acres at 
a penny an acre. Those who took over servants were to 
be allowed fifty acres at the same rent for each, and each 
labourer, when his time of service was expired, was to 
have fifty acres at a halfpenny per acre, to facilitate the 
extension of a peasant farming class. The rents here 
fixed were never to be raised. Those who could not pay 
their £6 for passage money paid double rent, to recoup 
those who provided it.* 

The prospectus concluded by warning " my dear 
country folks who may be inclined to go into those parts " 
that some hardship would precede the advent of plenty ; 
to have an eye to the Providence of God and if possible 
to come with the approval of their families. He " forebore 
allurement." 

A copy of this prospectus Penn sent to his friends in 
America, with a letter saying that his Quakerism had 
prevented the repayment by the crown of its debt ; but 
" perhaps this way of satisfaction has more of the hand 
of God in it than a direct payment." For " the matters 
of liberty and privilege I propose that which is extra- 
ordinary, and to leave myself and my successors no power 
of doing mischief, that the will of one man may not hinder 
the good of a whole country." 

Further conditions and concessions laid down the 
native policy of the colony. In the first place all the land 
was rebought from the Indians. " It would be an ill 
argument to convert to Christianity, to expel, instead of 
purchasing them out of, those countries." All goods sold 
or exchanged with them were to be shown in open market 
to prevent frauds upon them. All wrongs done to 
Indians were to be treated as though done to a white man. 
All differences with Indians were to be settled by a jury 
of six from each race. (This was found impracticable). 
The Indians might settle anywhere they wished. The 
usual European treatment of the natives had been 

* Letter to S. Hanson, Janney, p. 175. 



I 



THE FRAME OF GOVERNMENT 135 

cheating, oppression of every sort, slave labour in mines, 
the denial of all rights and chronic war. Penn writes to 
Robert Turner, 4th September, 1681 : 

" I did refuse a great temptation last Second Day, which was 
;^6,ooo to a company to do the trade with the Indians from South 
to North, paying me 2 J per cent, rent, but I would not so defile 
what came to me clean."* 

Much, too much, has been made by Hepworth Dixon 
of the share Algernon Sidney had in the constitution. 
The following letter, sadly interesting in itself, tells us all 
we know on that point : 

TO ALGERNON SIDNEY. 

13th October, 1681. 

" There are many things make a man's life uneasy in the 
world, which are great abates to the pleasure of Hving, but 
scarcely one equal to that of the unkindness or injustice of 
friends. 

" I have been asked by several since I came last to town, if 
Col. Sidney and I were fallen out, and when I denied it, and 
laughed at it, they told me I was mistaken, and to convince me, 
stated that he had used me very ill to several persons, if not 
companies, saying, I had a good country, but the basest laws in 
the world, not to be endured or Hved under, and that the Turk 
was not more absolute than I. This made me remember the dis- 
course we had together, at my house, about me drawing constitu- 
tions, not as proposals, but as if fixed to the hand. And that as my 
act, to which the rest were to comply if they would be concerned 
with me. But withal, I could not but call to mind, that the 
objections were presently comphed with, both by my verbal 
denial of all such constructions as the words might hear, as if they 
were imposed and not yet free for debate. And, also, that I took 
my pen, and immediately altered the terms, so as they corresponded 
(and truly, I thought more properly) with thy objection and 
sense. Upon this thou didst draw a draft, as to the frame of 
government, gave it to me to read, and we discourst it with 
considerable argument ; it was afterwards called for back by 
thee to finish and polish ; and I suspended proceedings in^ the 

* Janney, p. 176, abridged. 



y 



136 WILLIAM PENN 

business ever since (that being to be done after other matters), 
instead of any further conference about it. 

" I met with this sort of language in the mouths of several ; 
I shall not believe it ; 'twere not well in me to an enemy, less so 
to a friend ; but if it be true, I shall be sorry we ever were so well 
acquainted, or that I have given so much occasion to them that 
hate us, to laugh at me for more true friendship and steady 
kindness than I have been guilty of to any man I know living. It 
becomes not my pretensions to the things of another life to be 
much in pain about the imcertainties of this ; but be it as it will, 
I am yet worth a line ; and I would pray one of the truth of the 
fact, for the injury it hath done me already is nothing to the 
trouble it will give me if I have deserved it ; and if I have not, 
of losing a friend upon a mistake ; not that I meanly creep for a 
friendship that is denied me ; I were unfit for it then. I can but 
be where I was before, not less in myself or my own peace, which 
a steady virtue will make a sufficient comfort and sanctuary. 
Thy real friend, Wm. Penn." 

We know nothing of Sidney's reply. 

Negro slavery was as yet an unchallenged institution. 
Its regulation and finally its abolition is the most glorious 
chapter in the story of American Quakerism. The dawn 
of the feeling for freedom, even for negroes, is found in the 
constitution of the Free Society of Traders, under 
Penn's patronage. Negroes were to be free after fourteen 
years ; they were then to receive land, stock and tools 
and to pay two thirds of their crop to the Company. 
Not very much perhaps, but a beginning. 

He could not go to the colony himself till the colonists 
had sold up in England, and could go with him. But 
in the autumn of 168 1, he sent out Commissioners to lay 
out a great town on the Delaware. 

They were to sound the rivers and creeks to find where 
deep water approached the shore, so that ships might 
load at the quay side ; and if possible, the site was to be 
at the mouth of a good river. The town was to cover ten 
thousand acres. This is four miles square, the size of 
the London of William Penn's time. But it was not to 



THE FRAME OF GOVERNMENT 137 

be built that way. It was to be " a green, country town ; " 
with space round all the houses " for gardens and 
orchards, so that it will never be burnt and be always 
wholesome." Every purchaser of 5,000 acres was to be 
entitled to 100 acres of town lots. Penn's own residence 
was to be on the middle of the houses facing the Delaware, 
and to stand on 300 acres of land. A friendly letter to the 
Indians accompanied the Commissioners. From them, 
piece by piece, the land was bought : doubtless from the 
chiefs, in large pieces, for the Indians were nomad hunters, 
with no fixed abode. The commissioners fixed the site 
of Philadelphia just above the junction of the Delaware 
and the Schuylkill, with a front on each parallel river. 

He was not left wholly free, during these months of 
pressure, to think of nothing but his new land of promise. 
There was faction among Friends from a few fanatics 
of pure liberty, who objected to all organisation; there 
was a harsh persecution going on at Bristol. Both these 
required his intervention. He was nearly imprisoned 
himself in the midst of his great affairs. But the power 
and solemnity of his preaching and that of George Fox 
at Gracechurch Street so overcame the informer and the 
constable, that the former slunk away and the latter then 
felt free to drop the business. Life was an unflagging 
adventure with these men. 

Penn's mother died at the beginning of 1682. It 
affected him so that for many days he could not bear the 
light, and lay ill for some time. 

His principal task was in making the famous Frame 
of Government for Pennsylvania, the model of later 
American constitutions and the basis of the great Federal 
Constitution of 1776. It was finished by April, 1682, 
and had a Preface of great interest. The author 
deduces from Scripture the justification for government, 
and proceeds : — 

" So that government seems to me a part of rehgion itself, 
a thing sacred in its institution and end ; for if it does not directly 



138 WILLIAM PENN 

remove the cause, it crushes the effect of evil, and is, as such, 
though a lower yet an emanation of the same divine power that 
is both author and object of pure religion ; the difference lying 
here, that the one is more free and mental, the other more corporal 
and compulsive in its operation ; but that is only to evil doers, 
government itself being otherwise as capable of kindness, good- 
ness, and charity, as a more private society. They weakly err 
who think there is no other use of government than correction, 
which is the coarsest part of it. Daily experience tells us that 
the care and regulation of many other affairs, more soft and daily 
necessary, make up much the greatest part of government, and 
which must have followed the peopUng of the world, had Adam 
never fallen, and will continue among men on earth under the 
highest attainments that they may arrive at by the coming of the 
blessed second Adam, the Lord from heaven. Thus much of 
government in general, as to its rise and end." 

" For particular frames and modes it will become me to say 
little, and, comparatively, I will say nothing. My reasons are, 
first, that the age is too nice and difficult for it, there being nothing 
the wits of men are more busy and divided upon. 'Tis true they 
seem to agree in the end, to wit, happiness, but in the means they 
differ, as to divine, so to this human felicity ; and the cause is 
much the same, not always want of light and knowledge, but want 
of using them rightly. Men side with their passions against their 
reason : and their sinister interests have so strong a bias upon their 
minds, that they lean to them against the good of the things 
they know. 

" Secondly, I do not find a model in the world, that time, 
place, and some singular emergencies have not necessarily altered, 
nor is it easy to frame a civil government that shall serve all 
places alike." 

" Thirdly, I know what is said by the several admirers of 
monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, which are the rule of 
one, of a few, and of many, and are the three common ideas of 
government when men discourse on that subject. But I choose to 
solve the controversy with this small distinction, and it belongs 
to all three : any government is free to the people under it, 
whatever be the frame, where the laws rule and the people are a 
party to the laws ; and more than this is tyranny, oligarchy, 
or confusion. 



THE FRAME OF GOVERNMENT 139 

" But lastly, when all is said, there is hardly one frame of 
government in the world so ill-designed by its first founders, that 
in good hands would not do well enough ; and story tells us, that 
the best in ill ones can do nothing that is great and good ; witness 
the Jewish and Roman states. Governments, like clocks, go 
from the motion men give them ; and as governments are made 
and moved by men, so by them they are ruined too. Wherefore 
governments rather depend upon men than men upon govern- 
ments. Let men be good, and the government cannot be 
bad. If it be ill they will cure it. But if men be bad, let the 
government be ever so good, they will endeavour to warp and spoil 
it to their turn. 

" I know some say, ' Let us have good law, and no matter for 
the men that execute them.' But let them consider, that though 
good laws do well, good men do better ; for good laws may want 
good men, and be abolished or evaded by ill men ; but good men 
will never want good laws, nor suffer ill ones. 'Tis true, good laws 
have some awe upon ill ministers, but that is where these have not 
power to escape or abolish them, and where the people are gener- 
ally wise and good ; but a loose and depraved people, (which is the 
question), love laws and an administration like themselves. That, 
therefore, which makes a good constittion must keep it, namely, 
men of wisdom and virtue, quahties that, because they descend not 
with worldly inheritance, must be carefully propagated by a 
virtuous education of youth, for which after ages will owe more 
to the care and prudence of founders and the successive magis- 
tracy, than to their parents for their private patrimonies. 

" These considerations of the weight of government, and the 
nice and various opinions about it, made it uneasy to me to think 
of pubUshing the ensuing Frame and Conditional Laws, foreseeing 
both the censures they will meet \vith from men of different 
humours and engagements, and the occasion they may give of 
discourse beyond my design. 

" But next to the power of necessity, which is a solicitor that 
will take no denial, this induced me to a comphance, that we have, 
with reverence to God and good conscience to men, to the best of 
our skill contrived and composed the frame and laws of this 
government to the great end of all government, viz., to support 
power in reverence with the people, and to secure the people from 
the abuse of power, that they may be free by their just obedience. 



140 WILLIAM PENN 

and the magistrates honourable for their just administration ; 
for hberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without 
liberty is slavery. 

" To carry this evenness is partly owing to the constitution, 
and partly to the magistracy ; where either of these fail, govern- 
ment will be subject to convulsions ; but where both are wanting, 
it must be totally subverted ; then where both meet, the govern- 
ment is like to endure, which I humbly pray and hope God will 
please to make the lot of Pennsylvania. Amen. 

" William Penn." 

The Frame of Government, which was signed in 
England, May 6th, 1682, by the Governor and freemen 
before they sailed,* may be summarised thus : There 
was to be a Council of seventy-two persons elected 
by the freemen of the Province, one third to retire each 
year. The governor or his deputy presided and had a 
treble vote. This was the only legislative privilege the 
Governor retained. The Governor and Council prepared 
and thrashed out all bills, and presented them to the 
Assembly, who passed or rejected them. Before this 
final vote, however, eight days of consideration and con- 
ference with a committee of the Council, for the amend- 
ment of bills, might intervene if desired. The idea was 
to leave the preparation of detail to a smaller body of 
experts, and the final decision on principles to the demo- 
cracy. The Assembly was not to exceed 200 ; and was 
elected annually by ballot. The Governor and Council 
managed finance, police, appeals, education, and the 
encouragement of science and invention. 

For the first year, the Assembly was to consist of all 
the freemen of the province. And, as a temporary 
measure, William Penn was to appoint the first judges and 
executive officers. Afterwards the Governor and Council 
were to appoint them. Not only landholders, but every 
taxpayer could vote. There was to be no taxation but by 
law, litigants might plead their own causes, trials were by 
jury ; no oaths were required, so that Quaker bugbear 

* Janney, p. 190. 



THE FRAME OF GOVERNMENT 141 

was thought to be got rid of ; all fines were to be moderate. 
Friends' experience of gaols qualified them for penal 
legislation. All prisons were to be workshops and reform- 
atory in character. Felons were to restore double to 
those they had wronged, or in default to labour till the 
damage was repaired. Slanderers were to be accounted 
enemies of the public peace. The penalty of death was 
reserved for wilful murder and treason. 

All children of twelve were to be taught some useful 
trade. 

Members of the Council and Assembly and all judges 
were to profess faith in Christianity, and not to be con- 
victed of " unsober or dishonest conversation." 

Persons who believed in God were not to be molested 
or compelled to any form of religious worship. 

This large measure of toleration may be criticised as 
not absolute ; but it was a wonderful thing in those days. 
It will be observed that Catholics under this Frame could 
hold any ofiice. 

" According to the good example of the primitive 
Christians, and for the ease of the creation " there was 
to be no common daily labour on Sundays. It will be 
observed that the Quakers from the beginning based 
nothing on the Jewish Sabbath, and so escaped much 
Puritan error. But the punitive function of government 
was carried in other ways far in the Puritan direction. 
All offences against God, such as swearing, cursing, lying, 
profane talking, drunkenness, drinking healths, selling 
rum to Indians, all felonies, murders, duels, and all stage- 
plays, cards, vice, and gambling, to be severely punished 
according to the appointment of the governor and freemen 
in provincial council and general assembly. The sand- 
wiching of murder in between lying and card playing is 
very quaint, Alas ! no penal code has yet found itself 
able to deal effectually with lying. 

But, with this exception, how large and how modern 
the whole scheme is. At that date English law punished 



142 WILLIAM PENN 

200 offences with death, and was correspondingly 
savage all through. Penn, before his time, and knowing 

^/ Newgate, looked to the reformation of the criminal in 
whose poor personality the light of God was potential, 
even if clouded. 

Indeed, the whole code with its reverence for humanity 
as such, was the expression of Quakerism in government. 

^ That this Frame of Government may justly be claimed 
as the political outcome of the Quaker faith is confirmed 
by comparing it with the constitution of the Carolinas. 
This document was compiled by the renowned thinker 
John Locke, the political philosopher of the Revolution, 
and a man of the highest character. He had been at 
Christchurch with William Penn, and the two men were 
always friends. They were liberal thinkers. Fellows of 
the Royal Society, and sincerely devout. But towards 
democracy, towards poor humanity, they had evidently 
"^ opposite thoughts. Out of his belief in the In- 
dwelling God, and his experience of suffering, of the 
heroism of common people, and the sins of the great, 
the Quaker had come to trust a free people. Out of his 
academic seclusion, and his assured position among 
superior persons, Locke had concluded that aristocracy 
was better. His constitution was much the more 
admired at the time ; it belonged to that age, and with 
that age it perished. With all its provisions for eternal 
fixity it failed at once. The flexible constitution of 
William Penn is that of the most progressive states to-day, 
and will be even more closely followed to-morrow. The 
following is Hep worth Dixon's summary of the consti- 
tution of the Carolinas.* 

" I. The Province, which was larger than Great Britain, was 

held by eight proprietors. These men were to be absolute 

monarchs, with hereditary succession. If a line of descent became 

'* extinct, the other seven elected a new eighth by ( o-optation ; 

the eldest proprietor for the time being was called the Palatine, 

* " Historical Biography," pp. 234-6. 



THE FRAME OF GOVERNMENT 143 

and drew a large salary as Sovereign of the whole ; the others 
were respectively Admiral, Chancellor, Chamberlain, Constable, 
Chief Justice, High Steward and Treasurer. One fifth of the 
whole land was to be in the hands of these eight, inalienably 
for ever. 

" 2, A second fifth was appropriated to a hereditary nobility. 
Of those also there was to be a fixed number for ever, one earl 
and two barons for every 480,000 acres. Their estates were 
neither to accumulate nor diminish, and if a line failed it was to be 
recruited entirely from the privileged classes. 

"3. Under these were tenants, or small proprietors, who held 
ten acres each at a rent. These men had in no case right of appeal 
from their lord's decisions ; they could not remove without a 
licence ; and ' the children of leetmen shall be leetmen, and so to 
all generations.' 

" 4. Below there these were negro slaves, over whom every 
freeman had the power of Ufe and death. 

" The executive powers were vested, as divided above, in 
'The Eight.' The judicial system consisted of seven courts, in 
each of which one of the eight presided. Of the other magis- 
trates, who were called Counsellors, two-thirds were appointed 
by the proprietors and nobles. Trial by jury was practically 
aboUshed. One court controlled the press, another ruled fashions 
and sport. 

" The Legislature consisted of a Grand Council of fifty ; of 
whom fourteen nominally represented the people, but they were 
chosen for life. Freeholders who held fifty acres had a vote ; but 
members of the Council must not possess less than five hundred. 

" The Church of England was maintained by the State, but 
there was, of course, in the handiwork of the adviser of the 
Declaration of Indulgence and the author of the Essay on Toler- 
ation, to be no religious persecution. 

" I do not know and cannot guess, which part of this Consti- 
tution broke dowm first ; it is now brought by the antiquary from 
under the dust of two centuries as a curious proof that the most 
enlightened exponents of the Revolution dare not give full 
citizenship to the mass of the nation. By the side of this master- 
piece of the seventeenth century, we can forgive the quarrels of 
Penn's democracy," 



144 WILLIAM PENN 

Clarkson relates an anecdote greatly to Locke's 
credit. Sir Isaac Newton, Locke, Penn, and others 
were in company, and the conversation turned upon 
the comparative excellence of the new American 
Governments, especially Carolina and Pennsylvania. 
The matter was argued at length in the presence of the 
two legislators, and Locke ingenuously yielded the palm 
to Penn. I consider this a triumph of the philosophic 
temper. 

William Penn's wife and children were to 
be left at Worminghurst, till a safe home could be 
found for them in the west. For Guli's health was 
not strong. She had had six children, of whom three 
survived, the eldest seven years old.* We have few words 
of Guli Penn's left to us. She was not a writer, perhaps 
not a preacher. She was a lovely and devoted wife, and 
found her work at home. The hours and habits at 
Worminghurst were those of people whose life was in 
religion and in service. In summer they rose at five, 
in winter at seven, in spring and autumn at six : a real 
daylight-saving arrangement. They had breakfast at 
nine, dinner at twelve, supper at seven and to bed at ten. 
They assembled with the servants for worship in the 
morning; and at eleven, to make a recess in the work 
of the forenoon they met again for reading the Bible and 
other religious books. At six in the evening, they met 
for evening worship. Truly, these people were in earnest. 
After supper the servants reported on what they had done, 
and received orders for the next day. " Loud discourse 
and troublesome noise " were very properly forbidden. 
All quarrels were to be made up before bed time.f 

By the autumn the Governor was ready to go to his 
Province. He intended finally to settle there, and it 
would have been greatly to his happiness and the colony's 
if that could have been carried out. But such a voyage 

* Howard M. Jenkins, " Family of William Penn," p. 56. 
■f Clarkson. 



THE FRAME OF GOVERNMENT 145 

was encompassed with dangers. He was going unarmed 
among savages, in a wild unknown country, exposed to 
the risks of disease, hardship or shipwreck. Men in those 
days composed their affairs before such a voyage, from 
which return was uncertain. His family he might 
never see again. He wrote them, out of the fulness of his 
heart, this paternal epistle. It is self-revealing and of 
high biographical value. 

" My Dear Wife and Children : — My love, which neither sea 
nor land, nor death itself, can extinguish or lessen towards you, 
most endearedly visits you with eternal embraces, and will abide 
with you for ever ; and may the God of my life watch over you and 
bless you, and do you good in this world and for ever ! — Some 
things are upon my spirit to leave with you in your respective 
capacities, as I am to one a husband, and to the rest a father, 
if I should never see you more in this world. 

" My dear wife ! remember thou wast the love of my youth, 
and much the joy of my life ; the most beloved, as well as the most 
worthy of all my earthly comforts : and the reason of that love 
was more thy inward than thy outward excellencies, which yet 
were many. God knows, and thou knowest it, I can say it was a 
match of Providence's making ; and God's image in us both was 
the first thing, and the most amiable and engaging ornament 
in our eyes. Now I am to leave thee, and that without knowing 
whether I shall ever see thee more in this world, take my counsel 
into thy bosom, and let it dwell with thee in my stead while thou 
livest. 

" First : Let the fear of the Lord, and a zeal and love to his 
glory, dwell richly in thy heart ; and thou wilt watch for good 
over thyself and thy dear children and family, that no rude, hght, 
or bad thing be committed : else God will be offended, and he will 
repent himself of the good he intends thee and thine. 

" Secondly : Be dihgent in meetings for worship and business ; 
stir up thyself and others therein ; it is thy duty and place ; and 
let meetings be kept once a day in the family to wait upon the 
Lord, who has given us much time for ourselves : and, my dearest, 
to make thy family matters easy to thee, divide thy time, and be 
regular : it is easy and sweet : thy retirement will afford thee to 
do it ; as in the morning to view the business of the house, and 

10 



146 WILLIAM PENN 

fix it as thou desirest, seeing all be in order ; that by thy counsel 
all may move, and to thee render an account every evening. The 
time for work, for walking, for meals, may be certain, at least as 
near as may be : and grieve not thyself with careless servants ; 
they will disorder thee ; rather pay them, and let them go, if they 
will not be better by admonition : this is best to avoid many 
words, which I know wound the soul and offend the Lord. 

" Thirdly : Cast up thy income, and see what it daily amounts 
to : by which thou mayest be sure to have it in thy sight and 
power to keep within compass : and I beseech thee to live low 
and sparingly, till my debts are paid ; and then enlarge as thou 
seest it convenient. Remember thy mother's example, when thy 
father's pubhc-spiritedness had worsted his estate (which is my 
case). I know thou lovest plain things, and art averse to the 
pomps of the world — a nobility natural to thee. I write, not as 
doubtful, but to quicken thee, for my sake, to be more vigilant 
herein ; knowing that God will bless thy care, and thy poor 
children and thee for it. My mind is wrapt up in a saying of 
thy father's, ' I desire not riches, but to owe nothing ' ; and truly 
that is wealth, and more than enough to live is a snare attended 
%vith many sorrows. I need not bid thee be humble, for thou art 
so ; nor meek and patient, for it is much of thy natural dis- 
position : but I pray thee be often in retirement with the Lord, 
and guard against encroaching friendships. Keep them at arms'- 
end ; for it is giving away our power — ay, and self too, into the 
possession of another ; and that which might seem engaging in 
the beginning, may prove a yoke and burden too hard and heavy 
in the end. Wherefore keep dominion over thyself, and let thy 
children, good meetings, and Friends, be the pleasure of thy life. 

" Fourthly : And now my dearest, let me recommend to thy 
care my dear children ; abundantly beloved of me, as the Lord's 
blessings, and the sweet pledges of our mutual and endeared 
affection. Above all things, endeavour to breed them up in the 
love of virtue, and that holy, plain way of it which we have lived in, 
that the world in no part of it get into my family. I had rather 
they were homely than finely bred as to outward behaviour ; 
yet I love sweetness, mixed with gravity, and cheerfulness 
tempered with sobriety. Rehgion in the heart leads into this true 
civihty, teaching men and women to be mild and courteous in 
their behaviour — an accomphshraent worthy indeed of praise. 



THE FRAME OF GOVERNMENT 147 

" Fifthly ; next breed them up in a love one of another : 
tell them it is the charge I left behind me ; and that is the way 
to have the love and blessing of God upon them ; also what his 
portion is, who hates, or calls his brother fool. Sometimes 
separate them, but not long ; and allow them to send and give 
each other small things to endear one another with. Once more 
I say, tell them it was my counsel they should be tender and 
affectionate one to another. For their learning be liberal. Spare 
no cost ; for by such parsimony all is lost that is saved : but let 
it be useful knowledge, such as is consistent with truth and god- 
Uness, not cherishing a vain conversation or idle mind, but inge- 
nuity mixed with industry is good for the body and mind too. I 
recommend the useful parts of mathematics, as building houses or 
ships, measuring, surveying, dialling, navigation ; but agriculture 
is especially in my eye : let my children be husbandmen and house- 
wives ; it is industrious, healthy, honest, and of good example : 
Uke Abraham and the holy ancients, who pleased God, and 
obtained a good report. This leads to consider the works of God 
and nature, of things that are good, and diverts the mind from 
being taken up with the vain arts and inventions of a luxurious 
world. It is commendable in the princes of Germany and the 
nobles of that empire that they have all their children instructed 
in some useful occupation. Rather keep an ingenious person in 
the house to teach them than send them to schools, too many 
evil impressions being commonly received there. Be sure to 
observe their genius, and do not cross it as to learning : let them 
not dwell too long on one thing : but let their change be agree- 
able, and all their diversions have some Uttle bodily labour in them. 
When grown big, have most care for them ; for then there are 
more snares both within and without. When marriageable, see 
that they have worthy persons in their eye, of good life, and good 
fame for piety and understanding. I need not wealth, but 
sufficiency ; and be sure their love be dear, fervent, and mutual, 
that it may be happy for them. I choose not they should be 
married to earthly, covetous kindred ; and of cities and towns 
of concourse beware ; the world is apt to stick close to those who 
have Uved and got wealth there : a country life and estate I like 
best for my children. I prefer a decent mansion, of an hundred 
pounds per annum, before ten thousand pounds in London, or 
such hke place, in a way of trade. In fine, my dear, endeavour to 



148 WILLIAM PENN 

breed them dutiful to the Lord, and his blessed light, truth, and 
grace in their hearts, who is their Creator, and his fear will grow 
up with them. Teach a child (says the wise man) the way thou 
wilt have him to walk, and when he is old he will not forget it. 
Next, obedience to thee, their dear mother ; and that not for 
wrath, but for conscience sake ; liberal to the poor, pitiful to 
the miserable, humble and kind to all ; and may my God make 
thee a blessing, and give thee comfort in our dear children ; and 
in age, gather thee to the joy and blessedness of the just (where 
no death shall separate us) for ever ! 

" And now, my dear children, that are the gifts and mercies 
of the God of your tender father, hear my counsel, and lay it up 
in your hearts ; love it more than treasure, and follow it, and you 
shall be blessed here, and happy hereafter. 

" In the first place, remember your Creator in the days of your 
youth. It was the glory of Israel, in the second of Jeremiah : and 
how did God bless Josiah, because he feared him in his youth ! 
and so he did Jacob, Joseph and Moses. O my dear children, 
remember, and fear and serve him who made you, and gave you to 
me and your dear mother ; that you may grow like to him and 
glorify him in your generations ! 

" To do this, in your youthful days seek after the Lord, that 
you may find him ; remembering his great love in creating you ; 
that you are not beasts, plants or stones, but that he has kept you, 
and given you his grace within, and substance without, and 
provided plentifully for you. This remember in your youth, 
that you may be kept from the evil of the world : for in age it will 
be harder to overcome the temptations of it, 

" Wherefore, my dear children, eschew the appearance of 
evil, and love and cleave to that in your hearts which shows you 
evil from good, and tells you when you do amiss, and reproves you 
for it. It is the light of Christ that he has given you for your 
salvation. If you do this, and follow my counsel, God will bless 
you in this world, and give you an inheritance in that which shall 
never have an end. For the hght of Jesus is of a purifying nature ; 
it seasons those who love it and take heed to it ; and never leaves 
such, till it has brought them to the city of God, that has foun- 
dations. Oh that ye may be seasoned with the gracious nature 
of it ! hide it in your hearts, and flee, my dear children, from all 
youthful lusts ; the vain sports, pastimes, and pleasures of the 



THE FRAME OF GOVERNMENT 149 

world ; redeeming the time because the days are evil ! — You are 
now beginning to live ! What would some give for your time. 
Oh ! I could have lived better, were I, as you, in the flower of 
youth. — Therefore love and fear the Lord, keep close to meetings, 
and dehght to wait on the Lord God of your father and mother, 
among his despised people, as we have done ; and count it your 
honour to be members of that society, and heirs of that living 
fellowship which is enjoyed among them, for the experience of 
which your father's soul blesseth the Lord for ever. 

" Next, be obedient to your dear mother, a woman whose 
virtue and good name is an honour to you ; for she hath been 
exceeded by none in her time for her plainness, integrity, industry, 
humanity, virtue, and good understanding — qualities not usual 
among women of her worldly condition and quality. There- 
fore, honour and obey her, my dear children, as your mother and 
your father's love and delight ; nay, love her too, for she loved 
your father with a deep and upright love, choosing him before all 
her many suitors : and though she be of a dehcate constitution and 
noble spirit, yet she descended to the utmost tenderness and care 
for you, performing the painfulest acts of service to you in your 
infancy, as a mother and a nurse, too. I charge you, before the 
Lord, honour and obey, love and cherish your dear mother. 

" Next : betake yourself to some honest, industrious course of 
life, and that not of sordid covetousness, but for example and to 
avoid idleness. And if you change your condition and marry, 
choose, with the knowledge and consent of your mother, if hving, 
or of guardians, or those that have the charge of you. Mind 
neither beauty nor riches, but the fear of the Lord, and a sweet 
and amiable disposition, such as you can love above all this world, 
and that may make your habitations pleasant and desirable 
to you. 

" And being married, be tender, affectionate, patient, and 
meek. Live in the fear of the Lord, and he will bless you and your 
offspring. Be sure to live within compass ; borrow not, neither 
be beholden to any. Ruin not yourselves by kindness to others ; 
for that exceeds the due bounds of friendship, neither will a true 
friend expect it. Small matters I heed not. 

" Let your industry and parsimony go no further than for a 
suf&ciency for life, and to make a provision for your children, 
and that in moderation, if the Lord give you any. I charge you to 



150 WILLIAM PENN 

help the poor and needy ; let the Lord have a voluntary share of 
your income for the good of the poor, both in our society and 
others ; for we are all his creatures ; remembering that ' he that 
giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord.' 

" Know well your in-comings, and your out-goings may be 
better regulated. Love not money nor the world ; use them only, 
and they will serve you ; but if you love them you serve them, 
which will debase your spirits as well as offend the Lord. 

" Pity the distressed, and hold out a hand to help them : it 
may be your case ; and as you mete to others God will mete to 
you again. 

" Be humble and gentle in your conversation ; of few words, 
I charge you ; but always pertinent when you speak, hearing out 
before you attempt to answer, but then speaking as if you would 
persuade, not impose. 

" Affront none, neither revenge the affronts that are done to 
you ; but forgive, and you shall be forgiven of your heavenly 
Father. 

" In making friends, consider well first ; and when you are 
fixed be true, not wavering by reports nor deserting in affliction, 
for that becomes not the good and virtuous. 

" Watch against anger, neither speak nor act in it ; for, hke 
drunkenness, it makes a man a beast, and throws people into 
desperate inconveniences. 

" Avoid flatterers, for they are thieves in disguise ; their 
praise is costly ; designing to get by those they bespeak ; they 
are the worst of creatures ; they lie to flatter, and flatter to cheat ; 
and, which is worse, if you believe them you cheat yourself most 
dangerously. But the virtuous, though poor, love, cherish, and 
prefer. Remember David, who, asking the Lord, ' Who shall 
abide in Thy tabernacle ? who shall dwell upon thy holy hill ? ' 
answers, ' He that walketh uprightly, worketh righteousness, and 
speaketh the truth in his heart ; in whose eye the vile person is 
contemned, but he honoureth them who fear the Lord.' 

" Next, my children, be temperate in all things ; in your diet, 
for that is physic by prevention ; it keeps, nay, it makes people 
healthy, and their generation sound. This is exclusive of the 
spiritual advantage it brings. Be also plain in your apparel ; 
keep out that lust which reigns too much over some ; let your 
virtues be your ornament, remembering life is more than food. 



THE FRAME OF GOVERNMENT 151 

and the body than raiment. Let your furniture be simple and 
cheap. Avoid pride, avarice and luxury. Read my ' No Cross, 
No Crown.' There is instruction. Make your conversation with 
the most eminent for wisdom and piety, and shun all wicked men 
as you hope for the blessing of God and the comfort of your 
father's living and dying prayers. Be sure you speak no evil of 
any — no, not of the meanest ; much less of your superiors, as 
magistrates, guardians, tutors, teachers, and elders in Christ. 

" Be no busybodies ; meddle not with other folks' matters, 
but when in conscience and duty prest ; for it procures trouble, 
and is ill manners, and very unseemly to wise men. 

" In your families, remember Abraham, Moses, and Joshua, 
their integrity to the Lord ; and do as you have them for your 
examples. 

" Let the fear and service of the Uving God be encouraged in 
your houses, and that plainness, sobriety, and moderation in all 
things as becometh God's chosen people ; and I advise you, my 
beloved children, do you counsel yours, if God should give you any. 
Yea, I counsel and command them as my posterity, that they love 
and serve the Lord God with an upright heart, that he may bless 
you and yours from generation to generation. 

" And as for you who are likely to be concerned in the govern- 
ment of Pennsylvania and my parts of East Jersey, especially the 
first, I do charge you before the Lord God and his holy angels, that 
you be lowly, diligent and tender, fearing God, loving the people 
and hating covetousness. Let justice have its impartial course, 
and the law free passage. Though to your loss, protect no men 
against it ; for you are not above the law, but the law above you. 
Live, therefore, the lives yourselves you would have the people 
live, and then you have right and boldness to punish the trans- 
gressor. Keep upon the square, for God sees you : therefore 
do your duty, and be sure you see with your own eyes, and hear 
with your own ears. Entertain no lurchers, cherish no informers 
for gain or revenge ; use no tricks ; fly to no devices to support 
or cover injustice ; but let your hearts be upright before the Lord, 
trusting in him above the contrivances of men, and none shall be 
able to hurt or supplant. 

" Oh ! the Lord is a strange God, and he can do whatsoever 
he pleases ; and though men consider it not, it is the Lord that 
rules and overrules in the kingdoms of men, and he builds up and 



152 WILLIAM PENN 

pulls down. I, your father, am the man that can say, ' He that 
trusts in the Lord shall not be confounded. But God, in due time 
will make his enemies be at peace with him.' 

" If you thus behave yourselves and so become a terror to evil 
doers and a praise to them that do well, God, my God, will be with 
you in wisdom and a sound mind, and make you blessed instru- 
ments in his hands for the settlement of some of those desolate 
parts of the world, which my soul desireth above all worldly 
honours and riches, both for you that go and you that stay ; 
you that govern and you that are governed ; that in the end you 
may be gathered with me to the rest of God. 

" Finally, my children, love one another with a true, endeared 
love, and your dear relations on both sides, and take care to 
preserve tender affection in your children to each other, often 
marrying within themselves, so as it be without the bounds 
forbidden in God's laws, that so they may not, like the forgetting, 
unnatural world, grow out of kindred and as cold as strangers ; 
but, as becomes a truly natural and Christian stock, you, and yours 
after you, may live in the pure and fervent love of God towards 
one another, as becometh brethren in the spiritual and natural 
relation. 

" So, my God, that hath blessed me with his abundant 
mercies, both of this and the other and better life, be with you all, 
guide you by his counsel, bless you, and bring you to his eternal 
glory ! that you may shine, my dear children, in the firmament of 
God's power with the blessed spirits of the just — that celestial 
family — praising and admiring him, the God and Father of it, 
for ever. For there is no God like unto him ; the God of 
Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of the Prophets, the 
Apostles and Martyrs of Jesus, in whom I live for ever. 

" So farewell to my thrice dearly beloved wife and children ! — 
Yours, as God pleaseth, in that which no waters can quench, no 
time forget, nor distance wear away, but remains for ever, 

" William Penn. 

" Worminghurst, fourth of sixth month, 1682." 

He embarked at Deal in the Welcome, a vessel of 
300 tons burden, and carrying 100 colonists, mostly 
Friends from the south of England, with all their movable 
chattels, and after a voyage of about two months entered 



THE FRAME OF GOVERNMENT 153 

calm water through the capes of the Delaware. This was 
not considered a bad voyage; but unfortunately small- 
pox had been taken on board at Deal, and in a space too 
confined for isolation or proper nursing, it ravaged the 
company, and about thirty bodies were laid in the ocean 
on that terrible voyage. Penn was very active in his 
solicitous care of the sick, and they held many good 
meetings on board. 



CHAPTER XIV 

In Pennsylvania 

1682-4. 

The years whose story is told in this chapter and the next 
form the climacteric of our hero's life. The two years 
abroad must have been to him years of active and hopeful 
labour, of release and of triumph. He was still under 
forty and full of the joy of hfe. Hitherto he had always 
fought uphill. Principalities and powers had been too 
strong, and spiritual wickedness in high places had baffled 
him. Ever for Friends the gaol and its diseases and 
deaths, the whipping post and stocks, the ruinous fines, 
the neglected petitions to ParHament, the Conventicle 
Acts, and the oath. Puritanism had relied on the sword, 
and when that broke in its hand, the Church took her 
revenge for Marston Moor on the innocent but trouble- 
some Quakers. But here in the forest, breathing the 
stimulating ozone of the American atmosphere, himself 
actually owner and lawgiver over thousands of square 
miles of habitable country nearly as large as England, with 
no established Church, no tradition of servility, with no 
paupers and no peers, no fear of Pope or Bishop, sur- 
rounded by congenial liberated Friends, building a city 
of Brotherly Love, beginning a new era for mankind — what 
reformer has tasted such joy as this ? 

The Welcofne arrived before New Castle on 27th 
October, 1682. This town was on the Duke of 
York's territories, the modern State of Delaware. Penn 
produced his deeds and received from the mayor of the 



IN PENNSYLVANIA i55 

little settlement " turf and twig and water and soil." 
He renewed all the existing commissions and explained 
the nature of the free government he was about to 
establish. He went on to Upland, only a small village, 
but the principal place in the colony. He renamed it 
Chester; it is now the capital of Chester county. He 
returned to New Castle, held a miniature " court" and 
made the people a business-like and reassuring speech. 
Thence up the Delaware to the site of Philadelphia he 
went in an open barge, surveying at leisure the forests, 
the wildfowl, and the beauty of the great river, now 
narrowing from its estuary to the width of a mile at 
Philadelphia. Four miles above the mouth of the tribu- 
tary Schuylkill they reached the site chosen for the city. 
Here, too, there were Swedes and Dutch to welcome him, 
and here doubtless came many Indian canoes, full of tall 
athletes in fur robes and with waving feathers, to whom 
at last an Englishman was bringing a steadfast purpose 
of alliance and peace. Would he be like the friendly 
letters he had written ? Did he too refer to the Universal 
Spirit all things that happened to men ? Mrs. Preston, 
a lady present who lived to be loo years old, told how 

" The Indians, as well as the whites, had severally prepared 
the best entertainment the place and circumstances could admit. 
William Penn made himself endeared to the Indians by his marked 
condescension and acquiescence in their wishes. He walked with 
them, sat with them on the ground, and ate with them of their 
roasted acorns and hominy. At this they expressed their great 
delight, and soon began to show how they could hop and jump ; 
at which exhibition, William Penn, to cap the climax, sprang up 
and beat them all ! We are not prepared to credit such light 
gaiety in a sage governor and religious chief ; but we have the 
positive assertion of a woman of truth, who says she saw it. There 
may have been very wise policy in the measure as an act of con- 
ciliation, worth more than a regiment of sharpshooters. He was 
then sufficiently young for any agility, and we remember that one 
of the old journalists among the Friends incidentally speaks of 



156 WILLIAM PENN 

him as having naturally an excess of levity of spirit for a grave 
minister."* 

The plan of the city, the model of innumerable 
American cities, was a system of uniform parallel streets, 
and another system, named in a different way, intersected 
them at right angles. The parallel rivers, Delaware and 
Schuylkill ran north and south. They were joined by a 
wide central avenue called High Street, running east and 
west. About midway this was intersected by a north 
and south thoroughfare called Broad Street parallel to 
the rivers. The streets parallel to it were numbered, 
beginning from the Delaware, Front Street, First, Second, 
Third Street, and so on — all numbered except Broad 
Street itself. Parallel to High Street the streets were 
mostly named after trees : — but there is Race Streei, and 
Arch Street, besides Cherry, Spruce, Pine, Filbert, Walnut, 
Mulberry, and others of later date. Where Broad and 
High cross was the Central Square ; now occupied by the 
City Hall, a vast but not beautiful building with a great 
statue of William Penn on the top of its dome.f In the 
centre of each of the four quarters of the city a square open 
space was and is reserved. Penn was induced to diminish 
his city limits from the earlier proposal of four miles each 
way. They were fixed at two miles across from Delaware 
to Schuylkill, and one mile frontage on each river. The 
city and suburbs have long outgrown them, and Penn's 
earlier boundaries would now have been a convenience. 
The " green country town " has not materialised. 
Philadelphia is built up closely as other great cities. 
Not even the Founder was strong enough to stand against 
the power of land values. The open promenade by the 
Delaware has also been choked by riverside buildings. 
There was always something very English about the 
Philadelphians. 

About November of this year took place the famous 

* Janney. 
t Depicted on the cover of this book. 



IN PENNSYLVANIA 157 

Treaty of friendship with the Indians. It was made at 
Shackamaxon (then Sachamaxing the " place of Kings "), 
under a great elm tree. It was an ancient place of 
treaties among the red men, and Markham had already 
used it as the place to buy the land for the Governor's 
mansion, called Pennsbury, some thirty miles up the river. 
It was therefore tactfully selected by Penn for the place 
of the great treaty. It is now in Kensington, a suburb 
of Philadelphia. The old tree was blown down in 1810. 
One of its children has taken its place and there is also a 
monument. The well known picture by Benjamin West 
does great wrong to William Penn's appearance. He was 
not a stout old gentleman, but a man of thirty-eight, 
dignified and graceful beyond most men. Mrs. Preston, 
who was there, called him the handsomest, liveliest, 
and best looking gentleman she had ever seen. 

The half circle of solemnly seated Indians, the elders 
in front, the young behind, women as well as men, for 
West is right about the tied up baby, Taminent with his 
chaplet and horn of power, already an honoured friend 
of the Governor's, sitting in front with his councillors, 
the ground covered with the leaves of the Fall season, 
the lofty branches above, the council fire in the centre, 
and in front the broad river with here and there a log 
house building in the forest — on this impressive scene 
arrives WiUiam Penn in his barge with sail and oarsmen, 
and his leading associates, and begins his speech : 

" The Great Spirit," he says, " who made me and you, who 
rules the heavens and the earth, and who knows the innermost 
thoughts of men, knows that I and my friends have a hearty 
desire to Uve in peace and friendship with you, and to serve you 
to the utmost of our power. It is not our custom to use hostile 
weapons against our fellow creatures, for which reason we have 
come unarmed. Our object is not to do injury, and thus pro- 
voke the great Spirit, but to do good. 

" We are met on the broad pathway of good faith and good 
will, so that no advantage is to be taken on either side, but all 



I5« WILLIAM PENN 

to be openness, brotherhood and love." Here the governor unrolls 
a parchment containing stipulations for trade and promises of 
friendship, which, by means of an interpreter, he explains to 
them, article by article, and placing it on the ground, he observes 
that the ground shall be common to both people. He then 
proceeds, " I will not do as the Marylanders did, that is, call you 
children or brothers only ; for parents are apt to whip their 
children too severely, and brothers sometimes will differ ; neither 
will I compare the friendship between us to a chain, for the rain 
may rust it, or a tree may fall and break it ; but I will consider 
you as the same flesh and blood with tlie Christians, and the same 
as if one man's body were to be divided into two parts." 

Solemnly the Indian orator replies, takes William 
Penn by the hand, and accepts the proffered league of 
goodwill. The written record of the Treaty is not known 
to survive, but it was quoted to the same Indians by 
Governor Gordon in 1728, in the following form : 

" My friends and brethren : — You are sensible that the great 
William Penn, the father of this country, when he first brought 
the people with him over the broad seas, took all the Indians, 
the old inhabitants, by the hand, and because he found them 
to be a sincere, honest people, he took them to his heart, and 
loved them as his own. He then made a strong league and 
chain of friendship with them, by which it was agreed that the 
Indians and the English, wdth all the Christians, should be as 
one people. Your friend and father, Wilham Penn, still re- 
tained a warm affection for all the Indians, and strictly com- 
manded those whom he sent to govern this people, to treat the 
Indians as his children, and continued in this love for them 
imtil his death." . . . 

" I have now to discourse with my brethren the Conestogoes, 
Delawares, Ganawese, and Sha\vnese Indians upon the Susque- 
hanna, and to speak to them. 

" My brethren : — You have been faithful to your leagues 
with us, your hearts have been clean, and you have preserved 
the chain from spots of rust, or if there were any, you have 
been careful to wipe them away ; your leagues with your father, 
William Penn, and with his governors, are in writing on record, 
that our children and our children's children may have them 



IN PENNSYLVANIA 159 

in everlasting remembrance. And we will that you preserve 
the memory of those things among you, by telling them to 
your children, and they again to the next generation, so that 
they remain stamped on your minds never to be forgot. 

" The chief heads or strongest links of this chain, I find, 
are these nine, viz. : 

" ist. That all Wm. Penn's people or Christians, and all 
the Indians, should be brothers, as the children of one Father, 
joined together as with one heart, one head and one body. , 

" 2d. That all paths should be open and free to both Chris- 
tians and Indians. 

" 3d. That the doors of the Christians' houses should be 
open to the Indians, and the houses of the Indians open to the 
Christians, and that they should make each other welcome as 
their friends. 

" 4th. That the Christians should not believe any false 
rumours or reports of the Indians, nor the Indians believe any 
such rumours or reports of Christians, but should first come as 
brethren to inquire of each other ; and that both Christians 
and Indians, when they have any such false reports of their 
brethren, they should bury them as in a bottomless pit. 

" 5th. That if the Christians heard any ill news, that may 
be to the hurt of the Indians, or the Indians heard any such ill 
news, that may be to the injury of the Christians, they should 
acquaint each other with it speedily, as true friends and brethren. 

" 6th. That the Indians should do no manner of harm to the 
Christians, nor to their creatures, nor the Christians do any hurt 
to the Indians, but each treat the other as brethren. 

" 7th. But as there are mcked people in ail nations, if either 
Indians or Christians should do any harm to each other, com- 
plaint should be made of it by the persons suffering, that right 
may be done ; and when satisfaction is made, the injury or 
wrong should be forgot, and be buried as in a bottomless pit. 

" 8th. That the Indians should in all things assist the 
Christians, and the Christians assist the Indians, against ail wicked 
people that would disturb them. 

" 9th. And lastly, that both Christians and Indians should 
acquaint their children with this league and firm chain of friend- 
ship made between them, and that it should always be made 
stronger and stronger, and be kept bright and clean, without 



i6o WILLIAM PENN 

rust or spot, between our children and children's children, while 
the creeks and rivers run, and while the sun, moon, and stars 
endure." 

This Treaty still stands out from other treaties, because 
it was kept. It was the foundation of the most successful 
treatment of aborigines that history records. No drop 
of Quaker blood was ever shed by an Indian. No breach 
of the peace occurred for over seventy years, till the war 
party and the church party at home succeeded in dis- 
possessing the Quaker government of the colony. Then 
Indian wars began. 

Heckewelder the Moravian missionary, in his history 
of the Indian nacions says : 

" They frequently assembled together in the woods, in some 
shady spot, as nearly as possible similar to those where they used 
to meet their brother Miquon* and there lay all his words and 
speeches, with those of his descendants, on a blanket or clean 
piece of bark, and with great satisfaction go successively over the 
whole. This practice, which I have repeatedly witnessed, 
continued until the year 1780, when the disturbances which took 
place put an end to it, probably for ever." 

Janney wrote in 1850 (p. 219) : 

" The red man, unable to cope with the grasping, aspiring 
Anglo-Saxon, was driven from his old hunting grounds, and taking 
his course to the far north-west, he bade adieu, with an aching 
heart, to the graves of his fathers. But still he has not forgotten 
the ' great treaty,' and among the scattered remnants of those once 
powerful tribes, now seated by the clear lakes of Canada, or 
wandering on the banks of the turbid Missouri, the name of the 
great and good Onas continues to be held in grateful remembrance." 

The Indian policy of the Founder of Pennsylvania 
was a monotonous triumph of Christian and humanitarian 
fellowship. Part of the purpose of the Colony was " to 
reduce the savage nations by just and gentle manners 
to the love of civil society and the Christian religion." 

* The Delaware Indians' name for Penn. The Iroquois word Onas 
was the one generally used. They both mean a quill or pen. 



IN PENNSYLVANIA ' i6i 

This was carried out ; and met with the friendliest res- 
ponse. Unarmed the colonists lived in peace and friend- 
ship with the Five Nations. A company was formed of 
high-minded men to do the trade with the Indians, to 
avoid selling them drink, and to show them " examples 
of probity and candour." So long as Friends held control, 
the Indians responded. In 1721, the chief Indian speaker 
told Sir William Keith that they would never forget 
the counsel William Penn gave them, but would care- 
fully hand it down though they could not write. Similar 
speeches were made at Conferences in 1722, 1742, 1749 
and 1756 — and later dates ; and the link between the 
Friends and Indians has remained bright and clear to our 
own day. The daring idealists win all along the line. 
Those who, though with excellent intentions, armed 
themselves for security, on the principle of getting peace 
by preparing for war, such as the men of Maryland, pro- 
duced a long story of bloodshed and chronic insecurity. 
On the other hand Benezet, a Quaker schoolmaster of 
Philadelphia, tells us that one body of Indians actually 
adopted the Quaker view of war. There were, however, 
practically no conversions to Christianity. 

The first Provincial Assembly met at Chester on 
December 4th. The members for the lower counties 
of the Delaware petitioned for incorporation in Penn- 
sylvania — which was granted, and all foreigners were 
naturalised at once. The Swedes recorded " that this 
was the best day they ever saw." The Council was 
reduced to eighteen and the Assembly to fifty-four, " on 
account of the fewness of the inhabitants, their inability 
in estate, and unskilfulness in matters of government." 
The Assembly revised and extended and passed the 
" Great Law," hitherto embodied in the Charter, and 
separated after four days, having made a rule against 
" superfluous and tedious speeches." 

The Governor then visited Lord Baltimore, but did not 
settle boundaries. Each had excellent evidence for his 



i62 WILLIAM PENN 

case, Baltimore his charter, Penn the King's instructions. 
Unluckily they clashed. This was nothing unusual 
The charters of both the Carolinas included the city of 
New York, and Connecticut extended to the Pacific 
Ocean.* Another trouble was that when Lord Baltimore 
got his charter in 1632 a degree was counted sixty miles, 
whereas it was now found to be seventy ; so that Mary- 
land's two degrees encroached on Pennsylvania by that 
much more than was intended at first. t 

By the end of 1682, twenty-three ships full of immi- 
grants had sailed up the Delaware, carrying about 2,000 
people to Philadelphia. The early settlers were nearly all 
Friends, from all parts of England ; but from Wales came 
pretty nearly all the Quakerism there was in the princi- 
pality, then severely persecuted. Welsh names and some 
Celtic excitability prevailed among Philadelphia Friends 
for many generations. The persecuted sects on the Rhine, 
who knew William Penn's character from his visits to 
Holland and Germany, formed a company and sent Francis 
Daniel Pastorius to select for them a solid block of 
15,000 acres. This is now Germantown, a distant 
northern suburb of Philadelphia. They formed a stalwart 
and valuable clement in the population. In times of 
trouble with the Government or with the later generations 
of the Penn family. Friends could always rely upon the 
support of the Germans. The immigrants sheltered in 
dug-outs on the river bank while the houses were being 
built. By the summer of 1683 Penn wrote to Henry 
Sidney that eighty houses were built in the city, and 300 
farms settled in the neighbourhood. Fifty ships had 
arrived by that time, and 4,000 immigrants. There 
was no hardship to speak of, as in the early days of 
Massachusetts. The early letters are full of accounts 
of abundance and exhilaration. The settlers came 

♦ Hepworth Dixon, " Historical Biography," p. 244n. 
I Proud's " History of Pennsylvania, " i. 268. 



IN PENNSYLVANIA 163 

well provided. A mill was brought over in parts, and 
many frame houses. William Penn brought the wood 
carvings and panelling for his manor house at Pennsbury. 
The Indians readily sold the fruits of their hunting, and 
were eagerly friendly. We must not think of the great 
modern state of Pennsylvania as the sphere of the 
activities of the early founders. It was only a small 
piece at the south eastern corner of the State, thirty or 
forty miles up the Delaware from the capital, and as much 
westward. Here are Bucks County and Chester County, 
settled thick with Quaker farms, with large Meeting 
Houses every five or six miles. 

The land was generally bought from the Indians by 
the measure of what a man could walk in a day. About 
twenty miles was intended. The Governor did some 
of these walks with the Indians himself. 

The Assembly and the Council met again in January 
at Philadelphia ; and decided on a new Charter with the 
consent of the Governor. It included a few amendments, 
and deprived the Governor of his threefold vote. The 
Assembly granted the governor for his services and 
expenses a tax on certain imports and exports. He 
declined it for the present as the colony was poor. In 
after days he had reason to regret this generosity. 
Three arbitrators were chosen by each county court to 
prevent lawsuits ; and an orphans' court was held in each 
county twice a year, to protect the interests of widows 
and orphans. Penn describes everything done in the 
Assembly as rapid and harmonious. Belief in witches was 
one of the curses of New England. But the only trial for 
witchcraft which ever arose in Pennsylvania occurred in 
1683. It was due to the Swedes. But a jury happily 
dismissed it. Witchcraft and Quakerism do not belong to 
the same kind of universe. 

In August William Penn wrote a long letter to the 
Society of Free Traders in London giving the fullest 
description we have of the colony at this time. It is too 



i64 WILLIAM PENN 

long to quote in a book of this size ; but is a happy des- 
criptive composition.* 

But these years of happy triumph and hopeful con- 
struction were, like most of our experiences, flecked by 
causes of anxiety. One Friend wrote to him that his 
station and power were inconsistent with Christian 
simplicity and humility. f His enemies in England put it 
about that he was dead, and had died a Jesuit. Other 
matters of the Province caused him to have to write 
letters to his influential friends in England asking 
very courteously for their support — to the Duke of 
York, the Earl of Rochester, and Henry Sidney. It was 
the Baltimore boundary question that was the centre 
of these anxieties. Besides the confessedly difficult 
question about the fortieth parallel of latitude, Baltimore 
made an entirely unsound claim to the whole of the 
Delaware Territories, which Penn had bought from the 
Duke of York and which constituted three out of his six 
settled counties. Such a claim included the whole of the 
Delaware shore from Philadelphia to Cape Henlopen. 
This would have cut off his. colony from free access to 
the ocean. It was quite untenable and must be resisted. 
But Lord Baltimore sent an armed force into the 
Delaware Territories, quite near to New Castle, which 
entrenched a camp, tried to levy rents, and threatened to 
shoot anyone who tried to expel them. Happily the 
patience of the Quaker Government was equal to the 
occasion, and caused them for the moment to carry 
resistance no further than a magisterial deputation and 
remonstrance. The matter had perforce to be referred 
to the British Government. Baltimore stele a march by 
going quietly off to England in March, 1684 ; audit was 
clear that William Penn must go too. There were 
domestic reasons, also ; for Guli was not strong, and they 
had been separated two years. The cause of liberty at 

♦ See " Collected Works," II., 699 ; Janney, p. 238 ; Proud, i. 26. 
\ Besse, p. 124 ; Janney, p. 224. 



IN PENNSYLVANIA 165 

home seemed lost. Algernon Sidney and Lord William 
Russell had perished on the scaffold, and the sufferings 
of Friends continued unabated. He must go. 

This was the greatest disaster that had fallen on the 
colony. It now included about 7,000 white people. 
Under his influence peace reigned and general goodwill. 
But his absence was unhappily prolonged, unexpectedly 
and unavoidably, for fifteen years, years not without 
quarrelling and friction in the City of Brotherly Love. 
He left Thomas Lloyd behind him as President of the 
Council and Colonel Markham as Secretary. 

From the vessel he wrote a letter to those left behind 
in authority, to be read also in Friends' Meetings. It 
may seem a different voice from that of the practical 
surveyor and administrator, the importer of vines and 
weavers. But to understand the power behind all these 
practical measures, it is necessary to understand such 
letters as this. Once more, as indeed is usual, the mystic 
and the practical man are one and the same : 

" I have been with you, cared over you, and served you with 
unfeigned love ; and you are beloved of me, and near to me 
beyond utterance. I bless you in the name and power of the 
Lord, and may God bless you with his righteousness, peace and 
plenty, all the land over ! O that you would eye Him in all, 
through all, and above all the labour of your hands, and let it be 
your first care how you may glorify him in your undertakings ; 
for to a blessed end are you brought hither ; and if you see and 
keep but in the sense of that providence, your coming, staying, 
and improving will be sanctified : but if any forget Him, and call 
not upon His name in truth. He will pour out His plagues upon 
them, and they shall know who it is that judgeth the children 
of men. 

" O, you are now come to a quiet land ; provoke not the Lord 
to trouble it ! And now that liberty and authority are with you 
and in your hands, let the government be upon His shoulders in 
all your spirits, that you may rule for Him under whom the princes 
of this world will one day esteem it their honour to govern and 
serve in their places 



i66 WILLIAM PENN 

" And thou, Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of this 
province, named before thou wert bom, what love, what care, 
what service, and what travail has there been to bring thee forth 
and preserve thee from such as would abuse and defile thee ! 

" My love to thee has been great, and the remembrance of thee 
affects mine heart and mine eye. The God of eternal strength 
keep and preserve thee to his glory and thy peace ! " 



CHAPTER XV 

Courtier 

1684-8 

It appeared that for William Penn it was not enough to 
be scholar and saint, author and preacher, sufferer in 
prison, an explorer of the soul and one of the fathers of a 
new religious movement, a political leader and the 
founder and lawgiver of a colony where all things were to 
be made new, but now he found himself called by circum- 
stances to be a courtier as well. This is not usually a term 
of honour, and it would, if left unexplained, appear to 
throw some suspicion of dimness on any saint's aureole. 
But, in fact, the position he occupied at the Court of 
James II. was in harmony with the rest of his unusual 
career. He was the good, often ineffectual, angel of the 
King, and he was able to bring relief to many sufferers. 
That was his task. Had James finally been guided by 
him, instead of by Father Petre, his Jesuit Confessor, he 
might have died a king in London, and Britain would 
have been spared the wars of William against Louis XIV. 
and the National Debt. 

The spirit in which he began, his underlying impulses, 
and his first attempts at the work of intercession which was 
to be his business for four turbulent and exciting years, 
are well given in the following extracts from a fragment 
of autobiography called " An Apology for Himself," first 
pubHshed from a MS. in Philadelphia by the Historical 
Society there in 1836 : 

" I arrived from America the 6th of October, '84, at Wonder, 
in Sussex, being within seven miles of my own house ; whence 

i6r 



i68 WILLIAM PENN 

after some days of refreshment, I went to wait upon the king and 
duke, then both at New Market, who received me very graciously, 
as did the ministers very civilly. Yet I found things in general 
with another face than I left them : sour and stem, and resolved 
to hold the reins of power with a stiffer hand than heretofore, 
especially over those that were observed to be state or church 
dissenters, conceiving that the opposition which made the govern- 
ment uneasy, came from that sort of people, and, therefore, they 
should either bow or break. 

" This made it hard for me, a professed dissenter, to turn 
myself — for that party having been my acquaintance, my 
inclination and my interest too, to shift them I would not, to 
serve them I saw I could not, and to keep fair with a displeased 
and resolved government, that had weathered its point upon 
them, humbled and mortified them, and was daily improving all 
advantages against them, was a difficult task to perform. 

" Finding myself narrowed in this manner, that one day I was 
received well at court as proprietor and governor of a province of 
the crown, and the next taken up at a meeting by Hilton and 
CoUingwood, and the third smoakt(?) and informed of for meeting 
with the men of the whig stamp ; after informing myself of the 
state of things, I cast about in mind what way I might be helpful 
to the public, and as little hurtful to my concerns as I could, 
for I had then a cause depending about bounds of land in 
America with the Lord Baltimore, before the council, that was 
of importance to me. 

" Upon the whole matter I found no point so plain, so honest, 
so sensible, that carried such weight, conviction, and compassion 
with it, and that would consequently find an easier reception and 
more friends, than liberty of conscience, my old post and province. 
I therefore sought out some bleeding cases, which was not hard to 
do, Bristol, Norwich, etc., being ready at hand in bloody letters, 
barbarities never used certainly in a Protestant country — 
especially at Bristol. The relations are in print. But finding 
them uneasy under generals, as too much to grant at once, I 
began with a particular case. It was that of Richard Vickris, 
an honest, sober, and sensible man, of good reputation and estate 
in that city. He was under sentence of death upon the statute 
of the 35th of Queen Ehzabeth, for not abjuring the realm as 
Dr. Cheny did, that was under sentence. His crime only worship- 



COURTIER l6$ 

ping of God his own way, but could not abjure because he could not 
swear at all. The heat had been great in that city, and an 
example they would make, and chose these two men as eminent 
in their persuasion, and as having something to lose. But the 
thing looked so like a snare, the fruit of private malice and avarice, 
and the said R. Vickris, being a meek and quiet person, upon my 
assuring them he was, and would live peaceably under the 
government, the duke promised to press the king in his favour, 
who grew harsh and very tender to be spoken to upon that head, 
though for the very Papists in the new case of the long writ set 
a-foot about that time. And the duke was as good as his word. 
He was pardoned. 

" That my design might succeed the better with the king, 
it came into my mind to write something of the true interest of 
the king and kingdom, have it transcribed fair, and present it in 
manuscript, the times being too set (?) and rough for print. In 
this I undertook to show that since it was so, that this kingdom 
was divided into such great bodies, opposite to each other, and 
near an equality in strength and value, all things considered, 
though not perhaps in number, and that nothing would serve 
either party but the ruin of the other, and that it was too great a 
loss to his crown to gratify either so far, he was not to suffer his 
authority to humour their passions, but overrule both with 
justice, wisdom, and goodness ; that he might be king, and have 
the benefit of his whole people. 

" Adding, that he might be easy if the uneasy are made so, 
and not sooner — and that the revenue was not as in old time, upon 
tenures and in lands, but upon trade, which lay much in the hands 
of the party he was angry with ; however, that it would discourage 
and confound trade to be sure, if he changed the course of his 
government, and therefore to look upon past things as a king, 
and not as a man, without passion, and not suffer his own resent- 
ment or his minister's flatteries, interests, or revenges to carry him 
further than was good for his interest. And that upon the trial 
of a true liberty of conscience, he would find [it] more the advan- 
tage of the crown than any private man or particular party. " . . 

The friendship of James with Admiral Penn and his 
accepted guardianship of the interests of his friend's son 
had developed into a strong personal liking for and a 



170 WILLIAM PENN 

special relationship of reliance upon the advice of the son. 
It must have been a fresh and restoring tonic to the mind 
of a King surrounded by insincerity and self-seeking, to 
have one friend who wanted nothing for himself, had 
nothing to gain and nothing to fear ; one whose con- 
versation was witty as well as wise, and his judgments 
based always on realities. James Stuart and William 
Penn were both religious men, and both had reason to 
desire religious toleration, from opposite poles of faith. 
William Penn was, in certain matters, the most powerful 
man at the Court, or the most powerful in England, dur- 
ing the first two years of the reign of James II. His power 
was, however, wholly due to his single-mindedness. It is 
always so in human affairs. Dare we say that it would be 
so in the intercourse of nations, if there were a nation with 
a purpose as single as that of the Quaker courtier ? We 
may justly have a low opinion of the character of Emperors 
and Chancellors when they are acting in their public 
capacity ; but they could hardly be greater rogues than 
Sunderland or more dangerous than the King's Jesuit 
advisers. These men were, of course, Penn's opponents. 
He was all against monarchical tyranny and clerical 
tyranny. But they could not destroy him, in his armour 
of innocence. 

So, day by day, he was at the Court engaged in obtain- 
ing somebody's pardon, or some exile's return, or working 
in a more general way for the annulling of the Penal laws 
on religion. His first concern was for Friends ; but his 
charities were not confined to them. He was the channel 
of clemency and restoration to all the oppressed. He 
therefore became a most busy man, largely sought after. 

As many as two hundred visitors would be found 
waiting at his door when he rose in the morning,* each 
anxious that the terrible maiming of life produced by 
years of imprisonment might be ended for husband or son. 
All the time Penn was anxious to be back in Philadelphia, 

• Lawton's Account. 



COURTIER 171 

where he was sorely needed, longing for the peace of the 
far-off place in the forest, where came not Popes nor 
Kings, Dukes nor Bishops. But King James begged him 
to stay at his side, and day by day he released Friends 
as fast as they were convicted. Penn could not go. He 
believed the King to be sincerely devoted to liberty of 
conscience, though equally devoted to Passive Obedience. 

Before entering upon details of the work of release, 
we may say what happened in the matter of the Maryland 
boundary, which chiefly had brought him to England. 

The case was delayed by the death of Charles II., 
by the coronation, the general election, the meeting of 
Parliament and by Monmouth's Rebellion. But finally 
it was brought before a full sitting of the Lords of Trade 
and Plantations, including the King, his son-in-law 
Prince George of Denmark, the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
and the chief ministers of the Crown. Penn's proof that 
the Delaware Territories were settled by the Dutch before 
the date of the Maryland patent, and so were not lands 
" hactenus inculta " at that time, was clear. The King 
therefore drew a line north and south along the peninsula 
between Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay, gave Balti- 
more the western half on the Chesapeake (since known 
as the Eastern shore of Maryland) and gave the Delaware 
half, with its Dutch and Swedes, to the crown. This was 
with the intention of giving it back to Penn, to whom the 
Crown had assigned it, and who continued in undisturbed 
possession. But that versatile rogue Sunderland could 
never be induced to have the requisite documents 
formally signed. From which note future trouble. 
The question of the boundary running east and west on 
the fortieth parallel was again left miserably undeter- 
mined by the Lords of Plantations. The dispute 
wrangled on ; and the line was not finally fixed till 1762, 
when two mathematically educated surveyors, Mason and 
Dixon, were sent from England to determine it. They 
made the famous " Mason and Dixon's line," the boundary 



172 WILLIAM PENN 

between the slave States and the free in the great 
emancipation struggle of the nineteenth century. This 
trying uncertainty for eighty years shows how great the 
consequences may be of our English lack of technical 
education. 

The persecution in England for conscience was far 
worse than most of us realise. William Penn says :* 

" Shall I speak within our own knowledge, and that without 
offence ? There has been ruined since the late King's Restor- 
ation, above fifteen thousand families, and more than five 
thousand persons dead under bonds for matters of mere 
conscience to God," 

These figures ought to be well-informed ; but they are 
far in excess of the numbers who died in prison according 
to the Quaker records of " Sufferings," still kept in 
serried rows of tall MS, volumes in one of the strong 
rooms at Devonshire House, the central Friends' Meeting 
House, in Bishopsgate, London. In these volumes are given 
367 known deaths of Friends in prison between 1650 
and 1689 ; almost entirely of course under Charles II. 
But it is universally agreed that the Quakers bore the 
brunt of persecution and easily outnumbered all the 
other Nonconformist sufferers ; and the records were 
probably fairly complete. The only possible avenue 
of reconciliation of these figures that I can suggest is that 
the majority of Penn's 5,000 prison martyrs were Catholics 
who suffered during the three years of the Popish Plot 
delusion. This is not at all an impossible hypothesis. 

And what human pain hes behind these figures. To 
die in prison was generally to die of painful disease con- 
tracted there, in the filthiest of surroundings, far from 
home and family, and to have lived a failing and fading 
out existence for months or years. 

William Penn spoke of the need for relief at once to 
King James on his accesssion, but was told that nothing 

* " Good Advice to the Church of England, Roman Cathohc, and 
Protestant Dissenter," 1687. Collected Works, ii. p. 772. 



COURTIER 173 

could be done till the coronation, and then only royal 
pardons. Complete liberty of conscience could only be 
granted by Parliament. In fact, it was not for a vear, till 
March. 1686, that the gaols were really opened, and 
thirteen hundred Friends were pardoned and came out 
into the light of day. Some had been in prison twelve or 
fifteen years ; and the next Yearly Meeting was a happy 
time of many reunions when Friends who had not been 
seen for many years were once more in attendance.* No 
more wholesale imprisonment of Friends took place after 
this liberation of 1686. The royal prerogative of pardon 
and the royal disfavour to persecutions came into play 
to neutralise the evil laws, William Penn, was watchfully 
at hand to see that they were effectual. 

About this time an unexpected advocate of religious 
toleration appeared with a book, entitled A Short Discourse 
on the Reasonableness of having a Religion or Worship of 
God, by the brilliant Duke of Buckingham, who added 
to the dissolute amours and infidelities of his private life, 
the literary gifts of the author of The Reheat sal, and had 
had a share in the government of the Cabal, whose middle 
letter was the initial of his name. This flighty and 
irregular person had always, as we saw on an earlier page, 
been a believer in liberty of conscience. There is no 
reason why an artistic libertine should not dislike a 
persecuting inartistic parson. He had occasionally been 
of use to the Dissenters, and now he wrote it all out 
seriously. It produced many jeering replies, one of which 
accused the author of letting " the Pennsylvanian enter 
him with his Quakeristical doctrine." William Penn 
then joined in on the Duke's side, which was his own, with 
a Defence of the Duke of Buckingham's Book. 

There is a sly allusion in the preface to the character 
of the Duke : — 

" In this evening of his time I heartily wish him the feeling 
of living the irreproveable Hfe of his admired instinct, especially 
♦ Cough's " History," Book V., ch, iii., Janney, p. 281. 



174 WILLIAM PENN 

since he believes it is not out of his power, and that such extra- 
ordinary rewards follow it. And this will add a Demonstration 
of his Probabilities for Religion." 

The author incidentally mentions that this reply took 
him the best part of six days to write : it consists in the 
collected Works of fourteen large folio pages, or 12,000 
words. This gives some idea of the rapidity, the too great 
rapidity, of the author's flowing, lengthy and uncorrected, 
though vigorous style. Early Quaker writers seem very 
rarely to have cared whether their writings were literature 
or not. The book is full of small argumentative hits, 
and is not of use now. 

The great act of release of 1686 was immediately 
preceded by a strong treatise by Penn, A Persuasive to 
Moderation to Church-Dissenters . He is always at his 
best on this, his great message of toleration to opinion. 
The book is full of instances from history, ancient, 
mediaeval, and contemporary, showing how national 
greatness accompanied liberty, and national decadence 
the stifling of opinion. His various treatises on this 
subject make a full seventeenth century history of 
the cause of religious liberty. 

As " general mediator for charity," able to help men 
of all persuasions, Penn must, even in an atmosphere of 
anxieties and slanders, have had a continued fountain of 
joy within him. One can conceive of few happier des- 
tinies for a man of goodwill than to have such power to 
translate his well-wishing into well-doing. John Locke, 
the philosopher of Christchurch, had been expelled from 
Oxford and banished for being a friend of Shaftesbury 
when the royal brothers triumphed over the Whigs in 
1683. He was abroad when the sentence of expulsion 
was passed by the servile University, and was still in 
exile at the Hague, forging W^hig arguments for the 
coming Revolution. William Penn dared to plead for 
him ; and succeeded in obtaining a pardon, even for a 
man so conspicuous. But Locke, as though he had been 



COURTIER 175 

George Fox himself, refused to receive a pardon, and 
stayed abroad — though expressing, and in later days 
showing, his gratitude to his would-be benefactor. 

The most intimate record of William Penn's public 
activities at this time is in an autobiographical fragment 
by Charlewood Lawton, a Whig of good standing, com- 
municated by Granville Penn to the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania, and published in Vol. Ill, Part 2, of 
their memoirs. 

Janney, in accordance with his useful habit, prints it 
in full (pp. 299-307) ; but we have only room here for a 
brief sketch of certain passages in it. He begins : — 

" I had the happiness to converse frequently, and as inwardly 
as if we had been brothers, with Mr. Penn, almost thirty 3^ears 
before his death ; and during all that time I constantly discovered 
in him an inexhaustible spring of benevolence towards all his 
fellow creatures, without any narrow or stingy regard to either 
civil or religious parties. And yet this best-natured man, was, 
whilst living, daily persecuted with groundless slanders, and since 
his death his good name is not free from malicious attacks." 

This was why Lawtcn published his memoirs. Penn met 
him in the coach when going home to Kensington, and 
evidently took greatly to the younger man, who having 
been concerned with Monmouth's rebellion, was in hiding, 
but afterwards resided near Windsor. In the summer of 
1686, Penn invited hi m to dinner, took him in his chariot and 
four to Windsor, where he was busy over getting Mr. Popple 
(afterwards secretary to the Committee on Trade and 
Plantations) out of a serious trouble with the French 
ambassador. Popple invited Penn to dinner, and he 
accepted on condition that he might bring his young 
friend with him. Lawton and Penn appointed to meet 
on the Terrace Walk at Windsor Castle, when the business 
was over. Then Penn said : " Friend Lawton, I would 
not have taken so much pains to find thee out, if I had 
not an inclination for thee : and they say, I have some 
interest with the King, and therefore prithee, tell me how 



176 WILLIAM PENN 

Icanemploy it for thy good." Lawton declined anything 
for himself, but soon remembered a certain Aaron Smith, 
who stood in need of pardon. William Penn, knowing 
nothing about the man except his need, undertook to 
get it. Over the wine after dinner, William Penn, turning 
to his host Mr. Popple, recounted the above, and said he 
had never before met with a man who, asked to serve 
himself, proposed to free another. He proceeded to press 
La\^^on to name something for himself, who, finally, said 
his life would be prolonged if a certain Jack Trenchard, 
a Whig exile in Holland, might come home and drink a 
bottle with him now and then. Pardons for both those 
obnoxious rebels were in due course obtained. But not 
without difficulty. At the name of Aaron Smith, James 
flew into a rage, and said that six such men would put 
his three kingdoms in a flame. When Lawton came to 
Penn in his garden at Holland House, Kensington, with 
Aaron Smith's petition, and a letter to Penn, the latter 
told Lawton of this disaster, but promised to try again 
when the King was in a good humour ; at the same time 
rejecting the offered petition as rude. Smith, who was 
just then engaged in bargaining with some pardon- 
broker at the cost of his whole property, was set free, 
but Lawton says that after the Revolution, he tried to 
ruin both his benefactors by telling falsehoods to Lord 
Romney (Henry Sidney). Later, in order to make the 
somewhat impervious King aware of Whig opinion, 
Penn introduced Lawton, Trenchard and Justice Treby, 
to the Royal closet, to speak their minds freely in private 
to him ; and warn him of the dangers of the Dispensing 
Power and of any attack on the Church. 

With similar intent Penn got anonymous expressions 
of opinion from Lawton in writing, and showed them to 
the King when he was travelling on his downward course 
in spite of all that Penn could do. But James thought 
he knew the Church of England better than his advisers, 
and could trust it to abide by its doctrine of Passive 



COURTIER 177 

Obedience. Lawton reminded the King that the Church 
had a doctrine against drunkenness and common swear- 
ing, which vices nevertheless the members of it frequently 
practised. Afterwards " Mr. Penn began, as he had a 
great talent that way, to rally me very facetiously upon 
my bluntness ; and when he had made himself merry with 
me as long as he thought fit, he told me the King liked me 
for my sincerity, ' and I would have thee,' said he, 
' think of some place. The King hath a mind that thou 
shouldst be in the commission of the Peace, and a member of 
the next Parliament, and a corporation will be found where 
some honest gentleman will bring thee in." Lawton 
desired no place, but only to live quietly in the country 
on his means. He would not be a magistrate, for he was 
struggling against the game laws at Windsor Forest, and 
so would not administer them, and he would not be a 
member of a " regulated " Parliament. (An excellent 
man, this Lawton). He describes how he told William 
Penn at the time of the first Declaration of Indulgence 
that he entirely disapproved of the Royal Dispensing power 
being used for it. Penn was irresponsive, but many years 
afterwards Lawton found that the reason was that he had 
himself been against that way of doing it. At the same 
time, the King's difficulties with the Parliament would 
have been great, if he had tried to obtain their support. 
The Church party made a proposal in the House for 
petitioning the King to put in force at once in their full 
severity all the penal statutes against Dissenters, and 
only the King's urgent order to his friends in the Commons 
caused it to be dropped. 

Though we may probably conclude from a number of 
incidents like this, in which the King tried to be fair to 
all religions, that William Penn was right in his estimate 
of James's honest love for freedom of conscience, there was 
no doubt that his unconcealed Catholicism made him 
suspect from the beginning of his reign. It was not safe 
or prudent, and not reassuring to susceptible Protestant 



178 WILLIAM PENN 

nerves, for the King and Queen openly to attend Mass at 
Whitehall, whither of course Catholics crowded. James 
received a Papal Nuncio and knelt before him ; Francis- 
cans, Cistercians, and other religious orders established 
themselves in London, and the Jesuits began a school in 
the Savoy. All this made it easy to assume that Penn was 
a Jesuit in disguise. Jesuits in disguise have always been 
a stock property of the British imagination. Once asked 
in a coach how h was that he was so learned a man, 
William Penn replied that he supposed it was because he 
was educated at Saumur. "Educated at S. Omer " 
was the form in which it was heard and repeated in all 
the coffee houses. Penn had confessed that he was 
educated at the dreaded Jesuit college. 

Some silly verses, condoling the late King's death and 
congratulating the new one on his accession, full of Popery 
and servility, and a discredit to their author both in style 
and in spirit, were circulated over the initials W.P. 
These initials were well known and had been used by 
Wm. Penn on many title pages ; and the whole thing 
was a fraudulent attempt to discredit him. He wrote 
a contemptuous and humorous letter Fiction Found Out 
to disavow the authorship.* 

The ordinary Englishman could not conceive of a man 
whose aims were so unusual and so aloof from parties as those 
of the King's Quaker friend. Even Dr. Tillotson, the best 
of the Anglican clergy, had begun to have doubts ; and 
the trifling occasion for them shows how easily in a given 
" atmosphere " impressions grow of themselves. Some 
years before Tillotson had said to Penn that he had been 
hearing reports that he corresponded with Jesuits at 
Rome. Penn seemed astonished, but talked on the sub- 
ject generally, and went away promising further talk. 
But he did not happen categorically to deny it. Tillotson 
afterwards fancied he avoided him. Soon after William 

♦ See "Collected Works," i. p. 125; or, Janney, p. 272, where it is 
printed in full. 



COURTIER 



179 



Penn went to Pennsylvania, and thought no more of the 
incident ; and now Tillotson, when questioned, did not feel 
sure that the accusation might not be true. When this 
came, in exaggerated form, to William Penn's ears, he 
wrote at once to right himself with his old friend. A 
correspondence creditable to both took place, at the end 
of which Tillotson wrote in black and white his assurance 
that Penn was a sound Protestant. 

In connection with Monmouth's rebellion in 1685, 
and the cruel Assize of Judge Jeffreys, there was little for 
Penn to do ; but he did what he could. He protested 
against the great and needless slaughter of the Bloody 
Assize, as we know from the admission of his enemy 
Burnet.* He tried to get twenty of the thousand poor 
people who were transported sent to Pennsylvania, where 
their otherwise cruel enslavement by the planters in the 
other colonies would be mitigated. We do not know 
whether he succeeded, f At this time occurred the exe- 
cution of Alderman Henry Cornish, a city merchant 
who had been accused of a share in the Rye House Plot 
two years before, but against whom there had been too 
little evidence. A scoundrel now appeared and testified 
against him ; and he was gibbeted in front of his own house 
in Cheapside, in spite of Penn's earnest pleadings and 
strong belief in his innocence. J Penn was present at the 
execution and was able to tell the King that Cornish died 
protesting his innocence ; and that he was not drunk, 
as was alleged, but only indignant, on the scaffold. He 
obtained the poor favour of the return of his scattered 
limbs to his family, and the punishment of the informer. 
He went from Cheapside to Tyburn to the execution of 
Elizabeth Gaunt, the lady whose crime was sheltering 
a rebel. She was burnt to death by Jeffreys, in spite of 

* " History of His Own Times," iii. p. 66 ; quoted by Dixon, p. 300. 
t Penn says, in a letter to Thomas Lloyd, " I begged 20 of the King.' 
Janney assumes that he succeeded, Dixon that he failed. 
J Dixon, p. 303. 



i8o WILLIAM PENN 

all William Penn's efforts to save her.* It is noticeable 
that he had but little power to stay the hand of vengeance 
from the victims of Monmouth's rebellion. The King 
was justly alarmed and not open to influence. The rebels 
had put a price on his head. And Penn was known to be 
a Whig himself. His name, in fact, appeared in the rebels' 
papers as one who could be trusted to bring over the 
American colonies to the attempted new Government. 
So it could hardly be expected that he could do much in 
the way of mercy for them. His influence grew later. 
It seems to have reached its highest point in his mission 
to the Low Countries, as an unofficial ambassador from 
the King to his son-in-law William of Orange. Penn was 
going abroad, to extend the knowledge of Pennsylvania 
among the persecuted in Holland and on the Rhine, and 
James asked him to see how far he could induce William 
to support liberty of conscience and the repeal of the Test 
Acts in England. In that case, James offered to consult 
him constantly, and to give high offices to his Whig 
friends. The fact was that many of these were al- 
ready in correspondence — technically treasonable — with 
William ; and James wanted to make a friend, rather 
than an enemy, of his dangerous son-in-law, the champion 
of Protestant Europe, anxious to bring the power and 
the crown of England into line against Louis XIV. It 
was an epoch-making embassage. William was willing 
to stop persecution and allow liberty of conscience ; 
but he would not agree to repeal the Test Acts, and so 
make the Catholics and the Protestant Dissenters full 
citizens. Burnet, a narrow-minded Churchman, was his 
English adviser on church matters at the Hague, and he 
succeeded in baffling the truer statesmanship of Penn's 
proposal. No doubt William knew that the English 
Church party would not stand it. His idea was to play 
for the throne ; and William Penn came away feeling 
that the Prince of Orange was acting purely from policy. 

*Dixon, p. 303. I cannot trace the statement further back. 



COURTIER i8i 

. and had no strong religious principles.* With the peppery 
Burnet, Penn had many arguments on the subject of 
toleration, and made at this time an enemy of the future 
Bishop. This was in 1686. After that James seems to 
have given up hope of agreeing with the English Church 
on the lines of peace all round, and to have turned to 
more extreme and disastrous courses. He began to use 
his royal prerogative to put Catholics in power, and to 
enter on a fatal war with Anglicanism, by methods so 
tyrannical that Protestant Dissenters as a whole joined 
their former persecutors against him. But the Church, by 
its insistence on the Test Acts, must bear its share of the 
blame of what followed. 

We shall find William Penn still by the King's side 
advising against one step after another in his rapid down • 
ward course. But James now listened to Father Petre. 
Great is the power of a Roman confessor over the enslaved 
mind of a devotee. Penn could not claim to dispose of 
spiritual rewards and terrors, and of course he had to speak 
always as a Whig and an extreme Protestant, denier of 
that which made the religious furniture of the King's 
mind and coloured the main motives of his soul. It is 
probable that from this time James may have intended to 
restore England to Rome. 

The only public benefit that followed William Penn's 
visit to the Hague was that he was able to obtain pardon 
and liberty to return for many of the English exiles who 
had fled with Shaftesbury at the time of the Whig over- 
throw in 1682 or 1683. The King was induced to offer 
a general pardon to those whose offences were purely 
religious ; and one or two individual political pardons were 
obtained also. 

At Amsterdam William Penn engaged William Sewel 
the Quaker historian, to translate his account of Penn- 
sylvania into Flemish and circulate it. He himself 
revisited the Rhine districts and told of the success of 

* Burnet, iii. p. 140, 



i82 WILLIAM PENN 

Germantown, and of the new free and prosperous land 
open to them. 

In March, 1687, James issued his Declaration of 
Indulgence, abrogating the Test Acts, and all the Penal 
Laws, by his own authority. 

This act of clemency was done by means of the Royal 
Dispensing Power. This was an ancient prerogative, 
now out of date, used by all the Stuarts, following Tudor 
example, but vehemently opposed by the Whigs, and one 
of the burning questions in the days of the Long Parlia- 
ment. James had consulted the Judges upon it, and, 
with one exception, they pronounced that the King 
possessed this power. (The historical point is argued 
very fully in S. R. Gardiner's History of the Reign of 
James I). With a King of the narrow, unperceptive, 
but direct mind of James XL, such a judgment was as 
unfortunate as it was cowardly. Nevertheless, in this 
case, a great act of justice was done, and the King was 
really ahead of his Anglican Parliament, In the address 
of thanks which Friends presented, William Penn took care 
to insert a clause trusting that the sanction of Parliament 
would be obtained, and in the royal closet he pressed it 
earnestly upon his friend and sovereign. 

His anxiety to have the Indulgence granted on a con- 
stitutional basis led him to write this year, anonymously, 
a book called Good Adiice to the Church of England, Roman 
Catholic and Protestant Dissenters, from which we have 
already quoted. The advice was to abolish Penal Laws 
and Tests. Desiring to make his arguments acceptable 
to the Church, he tactfully quotes largely from King 
Charles I. ; both authentic utterances from Carisbrooke 
and extracts from Eikon Basilike, now regarded as a 
posthumous forgery. The unusual anonymity was pro- 
bably due to his close connection with the crown. Under 
his name it would have been regarded as an inspired 
work, done at James's orders. But few would fail to 
recognise the easy, free and voluminous style, and the 



COURTIER 183 

wealth of historical allusion characteristic of William Penn. 
Taking into account all his books on Toleration, of 
which this was the last, his practical advocacy by 
deed and word, and his constructive work in the found- 
ing of his free colony, I am inclined to place William Penn 
at the head of the noble army of advocates for religious 
toleration, at any rate in England. He identified himself 
with it in his Ufe, and we may safely identify the 
triumphant cause with his name, after his death. 

In the summer of 1687 William Penn was on a religious 
journey through the midland counties, holding great 
meetings, in crowded meeting houses and in the open air. 
The King was making a progress at the same time, and 
they appear to have met sometimes. Penn writes " I had 
two meetings on First Day at Chester, in the Tennis 
Court, where were about a thousand people, while the 
King was there." 

At Oxford, he found James engaged in the famous 
conflict with the Fellows of Magdalen College. The King 
was endeavouring to obtain the control of certain colleges 
in both Universities for Roman Cathohcs. He relied 
upon the profession of the Doctrine of Passive Obedience 
which they had recently made. He was to find that that 
doctrine held when it was a question of coercing Dissenters, 
but to be coerced in the interests of Cathohcs was a 
different matter. The story is familiar in English History. 
James ordered the Fellows of this, the wealthiest of the 
Oxford Colleges, to elect to their vacant Presidency a 
Catholic named Antony Farmer. He was not legally 
qualified and was of bad life. They petitioned the King 
to name some one else. Through some error, a reply was 
delayed, and the Fellows chose Dr. John Hough, a good 
but somewhat narrow-minded man. The ecclesiastical 
commission, a body under royal authority, deposed 
Hough and dropped Farmer. After some weeks James 
recommended Parker, Bishop of Oxford, to them — a 
prelate Popishly inclined. They replied that they stood 



i84 WILLIAM PENN 

by Hough. A scene with the King at Bath took place, 
which left both sides very angry. At this stage William 
Penn came to Oxford, and as general peacemaker he 
interposed his services. He had a long consultation with 
the Fellows, and was convinced that they were in the right. 
At first he had hoped some compromise might be found, 
but he told them that they could not give in, and offered 
to write this opinion to the King at once. They joyfully 
produced writing materials, and William Penn wrote 
to the King urging him not to try to force the Fellows 
to break their oaths or do violence to their consciences. 
Penn had to leave that day, and the Fellows delivered to 
the King his friend's letter. But the King was obdurate. 
After Penn had again joined the Court circle at Windsor, 
Dr. Hough and a deputation of Fellows came again to see 
him, and discussed the matter fully for three hours. 
Penn said he had already tried what he could, but 
the King's pride was roused. He wished he had been able 
to come in earlier, before passion had entered. He went 
over all the difticulties again, and said again that the 
Fellows were right. He advised no submission, as they 
feared he might have done. The Papists, they said, had 
already got Christchurch and University College ; they 
were now after Magdalen. Penn agreed that they should 
never have it, explaining however to Hough and his 
Friends that Catholics ought, hke other Englishmen, 
to have the chance of a liberal education. This was not 
acceptable to Hough and was not pursued. He took a 
further statement of their case, and laid it before the King. 
But in vain. The Fellows were all expelled, for a time. 
But before long James restored them to their college and 
their incomes — his pride had been satisfied, and he had 
begun to be afraid of the storms he had raised. 

In April 1688, James renewed the Declaration of 
Indulgence, and to make the clergy abate their preten- 
sions, and bite the dust, ordered them to read it in their 
Churches. The refusal of the Seven Bishops to do this, 



COURTIER 185 

and their trial and acquittal, were really the beginning 
of the Revolution. The birth of a son, afterwards James 
the Old Pretender, accelerated the determination of the 
allied Protestant bodies to offer the throne to William of 
Orange. Penn had earnestly opposed the order to read 
the Declaration of Indulgence in the Churches. When the 
Prince of Wales was born, Penn urged that it should be 
celebrated by the release of the Bishops and a general 
pardon for the exiles in Holland. It was refused. Then 
came the end — the bloodless revolution. The friendless 
King, surrounded by traitors, fied to France, and William 
of Orange and his wife ascended the throne of Great 
Britain and Ireland. The days of William Penn as a 
courtier were over until royal friendliness was restored 
when James's daughter, Anne, became Queen. 



CHAPTER XVI 

Hunted and Hidden 
1689-1693 

If I have caught anything of the personaHty of William 
Penn, the sort of man he was to meet and live with, apart 
from the public achievements and high principles for 
which he stands with honour as a character in history, 
I should say that he was an expansive man, hearty, 
sociable, conversational, and both in speech and writing 
more apt to begin than to stop, a large-souled, optimistic 
and open-hearted Friend, accessible to appeals, not critical 
of his fellows, not particular about money, and apt to be 
taken in. The centre of his faith was the divine presence 
in man, and such large charity as his does not go with a 
suspicious nature. He looked out upon the world as a 
friend to it, and sometimes he was bitten in return. 
Further than this, he had the upbringing of a landlord and 
aristocrat, not of a man of business. Other people acted 
as his business men while he devoted himself to ministerial 
work, to much travelling, to the writing of books and the 
exertion of political influence on behalf of liberty of con- 
science. He is said to have overspent £3,000 during the 
reign of James II. through his work and place at Court.* 
The original purchase of Pennsylvania from the Indians 
and the initial costs of that great land speculation had 
fallen upon his private purse heavily. In 1705 he esti- 
mated that during the fifteen years between his two visits 
to Philadelphia, he had spent £400 a year in London 

* "Pennsylvania, Colonial and Federal," p. 325. 
il»6 



HUNTED AND HIDDEN. 187 

" to hinder much mischief against us if not to do much 
good."* 

On the top of all this the Shangarry estates became 
unproductive during the Irish war which followed the 
Revolution. It is rarely the lot of prophets to make 
money, and William Penn was no exception. The result, 
unfortunately, is that during the period of his life which 
followed the Revolution he was under severe financial 
embarrassments, of which we shall have to relate the 
sordid and undignified details. His life up to 1688 
had been one crescendo of power, of strife, indeed, and 
turmoil and endless labour, but also of victory, of noble 
achievement, of large and expanding hope. The winds blew 
and blustered and knocked him down now and then, but the 
sun shone all the time. But at that date the clouds 
fell, and we have to deal henceforth with a suffering and 
struggling man. Who shall say which is the greater 
destiny ? 

The flight of King James and the victory of William 
were followed, in the usual course of such things, by a 
stampede of the friends of the fallen. Jeffreys was caught 
as a grimy sailor in an ale-house at Wapping. Sunder- 
land, in his wife's clothes, escaped. These were, for the 
time at least, Catholics and tools of the Prerogative. But 
what of the champion of ultra-Protestantism and Hberty 
of conscience, the King's chartered friend from the camp 
of his religious and political opponents ? William Penn, 
instead of taking refuge in Pennsylvania for a time, was 
still to be found as usual, frequenting Whitehall daily, 
fearless because not identified in power and place with 
either political interest. The Lords of the Council, 
acting temporarily for William, bound him over on 
December loth, 1688, in a ;^6,ooo bond to appear if called 
up, at the beginning of the Easter Term. More they had 
no ground for doing ; less they dare not do for fear of 
the rising sun. Penn told them that James was still his 
* " Pennsylvania, Colonial and Federal," p. 325. 



i88 WILLIAM PENN 

personal friend, though no longer his sovereign. He was 
an alien in the political world, after all. Informers and 
low hangers-on of the dominant party, with an eye to the 
plunder of an estate, induced the Lords in Council to 
issue a warrant for his arrest in February. He refused 
to come till the time specified in his bond, and wrote a 
statement of his innocence to the Earl of Shrewsbury. 
In the Easter term, when he presented himself, the public 
mind was calmer, no accuser appeared, and the judges 
acquitted him. 

The object of William in securing the crown of England 
had been to draw in the power of this country to help him 
in his life-long struggle with Louis XIV. of France. He 
aimed at being the head of a coalition of Protestant 
countries to maintain the Balance of Power against the 
aggressive Imperialism of the Most Catholic King. This 
war of the Grand Alliance began at once. It affected our 
story in two ways. It involved Pennsylvania in demands 
for support against the French in Canada ; and it was the 
immediate cause of the Toleration Act, the triumph of 
the life-work of William Penn thus far. 

The King wished for a united people. He wished to 
enlist in his Grand Alliance Lutherans and Calvinists 
abroad ; he was to be the champion of all forms of 
Protestantism, and therefore could not persecute any at 
home. He still had the Anglican Church heavily against 
him ; and the Toleration Act of 1689 was his doing, a 
victory of the King over the Church. It was a piece of 
legislation of the usual inconsequent British type. It 
did not proclaim religious liberty as a uniform principle ; 
it left Unitarians out, as an insignificant folk numerically, 
and as a concession to orthodoxy. It left Catholics out, 
being too near to the recent Catholic attempt to capture 
England. All it did was to abrogate the penalties of the 
Penal Laws to Protestant Dissenters who would take the 
oaths to the Government. A special clause met the case 
of the non-juring Quakers. Dissenters might apply for 



HUNTED AND HIDDEN 189 

warrants for their places of worship, and the magistrates 
were obHged to grant them, if they agreed to worship with 
open doors, and if there was nothing unreasonable 
about the request. Thus, in a patchwork manner, but 
effectively, the end was achieved, and the period of active 
persecution was ended. Severe laws continued to be 
passed against Catholics, but they were contrary to public 
opinion, and very slightly carried out. The gaols were 
no longer to be bulwarks of Anglican Christianity. It is 
to be regretted that the Church was compelled, not per- 
suaded, to abandon the road of force in order to achieve 
the things of the spirit. Noncomformists were not yet 
full citizens by any means. They were to be tolerated, 
that was all, as an inferior class. The Test Act still 
held. The Commons desired to repeal it, but the 
Lords by a large majority maintained it, one of the 
many blessings the Peers have conferred upon their long- 
suffering country ! No one but an Anglican could hold 
any public office — sit on the bench — execute a legal trust — 
act as guardian to a ward — hold a commission in the army 
or navy — or have a University education. Not till 
Gladstone's Act of 1873 completed the work of William 
Penn, was this last preposterous oppression finally done 
away with. 

For many years after the Toleration Act the attempt 
of any Friend to teach a school was resisted by the clergy 
to the utmost of their power. Nevertheless, the first 
period of Quakerism, its age of storm and stress was over. 
The Society had now to meet the more soporific dangers 
affecting an isolated sect of peculiar manners and faith, 
left quietly to itself, without much education, with no 
professional preachers or agents, gathering up its skirts 
more and more carefully from the pollutions of an age in 
which the Church was ineffective, public morals lax, and 
the evil effects of war seldom long absent. 

But the achievement of Toleration did not render 
WiUiam Penn immune from suspicion and persecution by 



190 WILLIAM PENN 

the new Government. We are apt greatly to overrate 
the wisdom of governing persons, till something opens our 
eyes : and the statesmen of the Revolution showed little 
penetration about the nature of Penn's (to them) curious 
relation to James. They might with safety have let 
him alone. 

In the spring of 1690 he was arrested by a troop of 
soldiers, carried to the Council, and told that the charge 
was one of treasonable correspondence with James 
Stuart. He denied it and appealed to the King in person, 
and the appeal was granted. He was examined for two 
hours in William's presence. The Government had inter- 
cepted a letter from James addressed to William Penn, 
asking him to go to his assistance, " and to express to 
him the resentments of his favour and benevolence." 
What did " resentments " mean ? William Penn did 
not know, but supposed James wanted him to help in his 
restoration.* He then drew the distinction between his 
personal friendship for the deposed king, which still 
persisted, and any agreement with his politics or willing- 
ness to aid his return. William had the perception to 
appreciate and value such loyalty. He had known Penn 
well in the old days at the Hague, and would have set 
him free. He wished to stand well with Dissenters. 
But some in the Council succeeded in getting him bound 
over to appear again in Trinity Term. He appeared, 
and was discharged, j 

Penn's friends were aware that he was suspect, and 
one of them, whose name has not come down to us, made 
it his business to collect the letters written by Penn to his 
gay friend the Duke of Buckingham, lest they should be 
used by some enemy against him. This brought from 
William Penn a grateful letter, in which he describes the 

* No doubt the French word ressentimenls i.e. the "experiences." It 
would seem to be a bad translation of a kind message. I should conjec- 
ture that " express " ought to be " remind. " 

I We owe this narrative to Gerard Creese entirely. 



HUNTED AND HIDDEN 191 

relation between the Quaker and the dissolute Duke. 
" My only business with him ever was to make his superior 
quality and sense useful to this Kingdom, that he might 
not die under the guilt of mis-spending the greatest 
talents that were among the nobility of any country." 
Penn then was Socrates to his Alcibiades. 

Every interval of peace was employed by William 
Penn in preparation for returning to Pennsylvania, but 
these intervals were not long, and his whole life at this 
time must have been one of ceaseless worry. The times 
were panicky: William was in Ireland fighting the 
campaign of the Boyne. The French fleet had defeated 
the British and Dutch, and invasion was threatened. 
The Queen's advisers ordered the arrest of eighteen men 
of distinction supposed to be implicated in a plot. By the 
usual wisdom of governing persons, William Penn was 
included in this list. He was lodged in prison, though far 
from well, and once more acquitted for want of evidence 
by the Court of King's Bench at Westminster at the 
close of the Michaelmas Term. 

Again the eager preparations for a journey to America 
went forward. Pennsylvania was harassed by war 
without and faction within ; and it was clear that Penn 
was to be the constant victim of spies living on govern- 
ment suspicion. The battle of Toleration had been won 
for that age, and there seemed to be little service for him 
in England. He engaged a vessel to carry him over the 
ocean. The Government appointed him a convoy to 
guard against French privateers, and all was ready. Then 
on 30th January, 1691 (new style) came the death of 
George Fox. Margaret Fox was, as usual, at Swarthmoor, 
and William Penn had to write the sad news to her. 

" I am to be teller to thee of sorrowful tidings, in some respect, 
which is this : that thy dear husband and my beloved and dear 
friend, finished his glorious testimony this night about half an 
hour after nine, being sensible to the last breath. Oh ! he is 
gone, and has left us in the storm that is over our heads." . 



192 WILLIAM PENN 

" He died, as he lived, a Iamb, minding the things of God and his 
church to the last, in an universal spirit." 

William Penn was the chief speaker to the crowd at the 
vast funeral. He estimated that 2,000 people were present. 
He wrote to Thomas Lloyd in Philadelphia : " I was never 
more public than that day. I felt myself easy." In such 
quaint language did our fore-elders confide to one another 
that eloquence and power had been theirs that day. 
William Penn continues of George Fox, " He was got to 
his inn, before the storm that is coming overtook him." 
This is in the same strain of foreboding as the note he 
wrote to Fox's widow. We find it again in his Testimony 
to Robert Barclay, who died on October 3rd, 1690, a few 
months before George Fox, at the early age of forty-two. 
" The overcasting of so many bright stars almost together, 
and of the first magnitude in our horizon, from our 
bodily view, is not the least symptom or token to me of 
an approaching storm, and perhaps so dreadful that 
we may have fresh cause to think them happy that are 
delivered from the toils and miseries that may ensue." 

The deaths of George Fox and Robert Barclay and 
John Burnyeat, who died in September, 1690, within a 
few months, also of Robert Lodges and Thomas Salthouse 
about the same time, made the survivors feel stripped 
and poor. But in fact no calamity did come. There was 
no more persecution. From a letter to the Provincial 
Council of his colony, it would appear that the European 
War, on a then unexampled scale, was the cause of his 
foreboding of evil. 

As the multitude separated after the funeral in Bunhill 
Fields, officers appeared to arrest Penn for the fourth 
time, but they had mistaken the hour and missed their 
quarry. To flee from England under a charge of treason 
and conspiracy would be folly ; and with grievous 
disappointment he sent the vessel with its freight of new 
colonists to Philadelphia, and turned to his enemies. 



•^ ^^ ^^.^ i'^ ^4 1^ cv . ^v t . ^.rb 






K ;AT ^^t ,\^ - ^^ ^ , -: ■ .p. ^^ T ^, o, v^ 






I - 



ui ax 

X ^ 

o t 
o 

z z 

H o 

c 

X .2 

P S 





















t> 



;, i.\ ,\ O ^ ^ 



" r ^ i 









^i^ 



:jr^>> 



V 



^^^^ 









: v^ 



\' K \. 







^^i\^ 






< . 



O 2 

H 



Ul H 



Z " 

z E 



2 f 

< o 

-J 5 

i E 



U. lb 

O 



HUNTED AND HIDDEN 



193 



An infamous rascal named William Fuller was the 
informer. He lived by this trade. This time he got 
himself out of prison by stating that he knew of William 
Penn's treasonable correspondence with the Stuarts, 
and with the usual wisdom of governing persons, the 
government had issued one more warrant against him in 
consequence. Fuller was a scoundrel of the Gates type, 
and just then in high repute. He could, for instance, bear 
witness against the legitimacy of James the Pretender — 
a useful man. A few months later, Parliament pro- 
nounced him " a cheat and a notorious impostor." The 
House demanded his prosecution by the Crown, and he was 
put in the pillory. Ten years later another libel caused him 
to be pilloried at Charing Cross and Temple Bar, where 
he was much beaten by the mob, and also at the Royal 
Exchange, fined a thousand marks and sent to the House 
of Correction. But this is later history. At the moment 
it was not safe for the Governor of Pennsylvania to stand 
his trial against him, nor safe to flee abroad from him. 

So we are told that Penn went into retirement in a 
private lodging in the City of London for nearly three 
years, from the beginning of 1691 to near the close of 1693. 
With the discrediting of his accuser Fuller, the King 
ought to have withdrawn the warrants and liberated Penn. 
But there was a reason, a characteristically royal reason, 
against this being done. The King wished for military 
reasons to revoke the charter of Pennsylvania and annex 
it to the Crown, and he wished to do this act of robbery 
and fraud while the proprietor was out of sight and 
hearing. In March, 1692, the deed was done. Penn- 
sylvania was taken out of its founder's hands and annexed 
to New York, and all the hopes for a land of peace and 
freedom, for which his life and his substance had been 
poured out, were threatened with ruin. Colonel Fletcher, 
for the sake of a united front against the French and their 
Indians, was to govern New England, New York, Penn- 
sylvania, the Jerseys, and Delaware. 

18 



194 WILLIAM PENN 

The informer Fuller with two other accompHces had 
accused William Penn in Dublin also of conspiracy, and 
the Grand Jury, on nothing that could be called legal 
evidence, had found a true bill. The effect was to put 
what was left of his Irish Estates after the devastation of 
war, among estates of outlaws, and to confiscate the rents, 
though the owner was unconvicted of any crime. This 
happened just before the London warrants were issued 
at Fuller's instigation. Soon after going into retirement 
Penn found it best to write a long General Epistle to 
Friends, which contains a paragraph of self defence. 

" / never accepted of any commission hut that of a free and 
common solicitor for sufferers of all sorts and in all parties, which 
made my conversation very general. I thought that charity, 
which gave me that office, should know no man after the flesh, 
nor suffer bounds to any that needed it, nor do I find in my con- 
science that doing what good one can under any government is a 
sin or a fault, for which a man ought to be stigmatized or eviUy 
entreated. I acknowledge I was an instrument to break the 
jaws of persecution ; to that end I once took the freedom to 
remember King James of his frequent assurances in favour of 
liberty of conscience, and with much zeal used my small interest 
with him to gain that point upon his ministers that he told me 
were against it. That so the doors of our prisons and meeting- 
houses, until that time cruelly shut against us, might be opened, 
and the poor and the widow and the orphan might come forth 
and praise God in the use of a just freedom. This and personal 
good ofiices were my daily business at Whitehall, of which I can 
take the righteous God of heaven and earth to witness. Nor can 
I yet see that providence of liberty and peace which we enjoyed 
under him, was such a trick or snare as some have represented it. 
Harm is to them that harm think ; we sought but our just and 
Christian privilege, and I heartily wish that they that thought 
so may do better and answer that great expectation that has been 
raised in the people's minds about it. One thing I know — could 
I have apprehended that the good days we had during his reign 
were a trick to introduce evil ones, all obhgations would have 
ceased with me, and no man have more earnestly and cheerfully 
engaged after my manner against his government than myself," 



HUNTED AND HIDDEN 195 

We do not know in what obscure alley among the 
crowded lanes of old London William Penn was concealed. 
We may hope he was able to take exercise when it was 
dark at any rate. His personal friends were able to visit 
him. He corresponded by some means with Rochester, 
Halifax and Henry Sidney, now Lord Romney. He 
refused a pardon, and demanded a full acquittal, in the 
letters that passed between him and these ministers. 
John Locke, remembering Penn's services to him when 
he was in similar danger from King James, offered to 
procure him a pardon, but as Locke had refused one in his 
time, so did Penn now. About six weeks after he went 
into retirement another warrant was issued against him 
in connection with the capture by the Government of 
three conspirators found concealed in the hold of a vessel 
dropping down the Thames to France. From a letter 
from Penn to Romney, it appears that one of these con- 
spirators had had, by great importunity, an interview 
with William Penn a few days before the voyage, no doubt 
of a thoroughly innocent character on his part. But it 
gave just the loophole for a suspicious government to 
peep through. Lord Preston, one of the three men cap- 
tured, tried to save his life by incriminating Lord 
Clarendon, the Bishop of Ely and William Penn. This 
was the origin of the charge. Preston was probably the 
interviewer above mentioned. Penn was everywhere 
unpopular, and so defenceless against attack. Except 
Dr. Tillotson, he had few staunch friends among 
men in power. All evil stories were current 
about him. Jesuit, traitor, Jacobite plotter, were 
epithets freely used. The hierarchy of the English 
Church were having their revenge on the champion 
of liberty. Dissenters doubted him for his friendship 
with James, and even some Friends caught the infection. 
He writes of " the clamours that have almost darkened 
the air against me." To the Yearly Meeting of 1691 he 
therefore wrote the following letter : 



196 WILLIAM PENN 

" 3d mo. 30th, 1691. 
" My Beloved, Dear and Honoured Brethren : — My 
unchangeable love salutes you, and though I am absent from you, 
I feel the sweet and lovely life of your heavenly fellowship, by 
which I am with you, and a partaker amongst you, whom I have 
loved above my chief est joy. Receive no evil surmisings : neither 
suffer hard thoughts, through the insinuations of any, to enter 
your mind against me, your afflicted, but not forsaken friend and 
brother. My enemies are yours, and, in the ground mine for your 
sakes ; and that God seeth in secret, and will one day reward 
openly. My privacy is not because men have sworn truly, but 
falsely, against me ; ' for wicked men have laid in wait for me, and 
false witnesses have laid to my charge things that I knew not '; who 
have never sought myself, but the good of all, through great 
exercises : and have done some good, and would have done more, 
and hurt no man ; but always desired that truth and righteous- 
ness, mercy and peace, might take place amongst us. Feel me 
near you, my dear and beloved brethren, and leave me not, 
neither forsake, but wrestle with Him that is able to prevail 
against the cruel desires of some ; but we may yet meet in the 
congregations of His people, as in days past, to our mutual 
comfort. The everlasting God of His chosen, in all generations, 
be in the midst of you, and crown your most solemn assemblies 
with His blessed presence, that His tender, meek, lowly and 
heavenly love and life may flow among you, and that He would 
please to make it a seasoning and fruitful opportunity to you, 
desiring to be remembered of you before Him, in the nearest 
and freshest accesses, who cannot forget you, in the nearest 
relation, 

" Your faithful friend and brother, 

" William Penn." 

It is interesting to compare this letter with a form of 
words suggested to him later at the end of 1693, by 
Thomas Lower, a leading and much valued Friend, who 
had married one of Margaret Fox's daughters, and had 
been the constant companion of George Fox, and the 
amanuensis to whom he dictated the " Great Journall " 
in Worcester Gaol. A number of Friends — their 
successors are still with us — thought that William Penn 



HUNTED AND HIDDEN 197 

had meddled too much with politics, more than became 
a member of a Christian body. These criticisms always 
mature against a man when he is down. Thomas Lower 
writes : 

" Underwritten is what was upon my mind to offer, and which 
I have since offered to William Penn as an expedient for a recon- 
ciliation between him and Friends. 

" First, for Wilham Penn to write a tender, reconciling 
epistle to all Friends as in the love and wisdom of God it shall be 
opened unto him, and in the closure thereof to insert as followeth, 
or to the following effect : ' And if in any things during these late 
revolutions I have concerned myself either by words or writings 
(in love, pity or goodwill to any in distress,) further than consisted 
with Truth's honour or the Church's peace, I am sorry for it ; 
and the Government having passed it by, I desire it may be by 
you also, that so we may all be kept and preserved in the holy 
tie and bond of love and peace. . . .' " 

One is glad that William Penn did not see his way to 
any such expression of regret for one of the great and 
dangerous tasks of his life. 

To this painful semi-confinement, with its restless 
longing to be in sunny Philadelphia, where things were 
going so badly, to the loss of the great experiment and the 
weakening of his standing with Friends, to the visibly 
failing health of his wife, and to the constant growl of his 
unpopularity, was added the creeping advance of poverty. 
He bad spent of his own, from first to last, £120,000 on 
Pennsylvania, so he told Popple in 1688. He told Thomas 
Lloyd in 1691 that the delay in his departure to Phila- 
delphia had cost him " £20,000 in the country and 
£10,000 here." Whilst these figures do not afford data 
for a company balance sheet, it is clear that he was in 
great financial straits on account of the colony. His 
Irish estates were unremunerative or the rents confis- 
cated, and we are approaching the exposure of the Fords, 
his fraudulent agents. Such was the piled-up trouble and 
tragedy of these years. 



CHAPTER XVII 

Authorship in SoHtude. 

1691-1693 

The books written during seclusion are among the best, 
as they are the freshest of Penn's writings. First of all 
he was called on in 169 1 to write a preface to the collected 
works of Robert Barclay. The preface runs to fifty-two 
pages; it is unsigned, but is known to be his. Indeed, 
it is in his unmistakable style. It contains a quaint 
paragraph about Barclay's " Apology " (p. xxxi.). 

" The method and style of the book may be somewhat singular, 
and like a scholar ; for we make that sort of learning no part of 
our divine science. But that was not to show himself, but out 
of his tenderness to scholars, and as far as the simplicity and 
purity of the truth would permit, in condescension to their edu- 
cation and way of treating of those points herein handled, observ- 
ing the Apostle's example of becoming all unto all." 

Thus did one Quaker scholar, in full reaction against 
scholastic theology, apologise for another, on account of 
the great treatise which raised Quakerism from being 
a formless enthusiasm to be a philosophy, a worthy reply 
to Calvin and to Rome. 

Penn was also asked to write a preface to the 
works of John Burnyeat. It was a slighter task and only 
runs to four pages. It too, is anonymous. It is clear 
that the early Friend publishers had not reached the 
modern plan by which a modest author magnifies his 
work in the public mind by asking a distinguished man 

198 



AUTHORSHIP IN SOLITUDE 199 

to write and put his name to a preface. John Burnyeat's 
birthplace, Crabtreebeck, still stands, in some decay, by 
the side of the lovely road by Loweswater in Cumberland. 
From it he travelled far away to Ireland and to America. 
Penn describes him as " one of the most eminent of the 
second stock of ministers the Lord anointed and sent 
forth in this his glorious day." And he had the adventures 
which commonly befel such — both in the impassable bogs 
of Maryland, and among the armies in Ireland after the 
Revolution. 

William Penn's next work was a tract intended to heal 
a breach which had occurred and had even led to separa- 
tion. Some Friends had objected to the existence of 
separate women's meetings, held concurrently with men's, 
and particularly to the consent of women's meetings 
being necessary before a marriage could be celebrated. 
This was held to be an infringement of liberty, too great 
an imposition of authority, and a door to formalism. 
William Penn was easily able to show that these curious 
fears were groundless ; and that women's meetings were 
just and natural, convenient and useful. The mantle of 
leadership, which ultimately fell upon George Whitehead, 
the leading London Friend, seems here to be donned, after 
George Fox's death, by William Penn. We may hope his 
loving and conciliatory letter had a healing effect. Just 
Measures was the title of the tract (1692). 

In June of the same year a Journal called the Athenian 
Mercury published three articles attacking Friends ; 
and William Penn wrote three replies. The paper seems 
to have been a sort of review, published twice a week, and 
to have contained historical and scientific articles. The 
arguments were on familiar lines, centering round an 
alleged depreciation of the Bible. Penn's title, was The 
New Athenians no Noble Bereans, and he reproved the 
editor for passing out of the calm atmosphere of learning 
into religious vituperation. Probably the poor man felt 
the need of something sensational to keep up the sales. 



200 WILLIAM PENN 

Penn's rather full replies were not admitted in the 
modern manner to the paper itself. 

His next work was more important and went through 
twelve editions in the author's lifetime, has altogether 
run to eighteen editions in English, and has been trans- 
lated into Dutch, Danish, German, and Welsh. It was 
generally called William Penn's " Key." Its full title 
was : A Key opening the Way to every capacity, how to 
distinguish the Religion Professed by the People called 
Quakers from the Perversions, Misrepresentations and 
Calumnies of their several Adversaries. Published in 
great goodwill to all, but more especially for their sakes 
that are actually under Prejudices from vulgar abuses {1692). 

It was published anonymously, no doubt because the 
author was very unpopular, and was desirous of avoiding 
public notice at the time. It only runs to thirteen large 
folio pages, and it was evidently useful as a short standard 
Quaker handbook to give to enquirers. The perversions 
centre round criticisms from the orthodox side of the 
Doctrine of the Light of Christ Within, because it was 
supposed to depreciate the historical work of Christ and 
the Bible, to lead to overweening assumptions of infalli- 
bility and perfection, to a denial of the teaching of 
Scripture about the Sacraments, and to the denial of the 
claims of citizenship in the matter of oaths and of honour 
to Kings. The doctrine of the Trinity, a topographical 
knowledge of heaven, and proper respect for the clergy, 
were also said to be shockingly absent from the Quaker 
scheme, which showed also a weakness in favour of good 
works. Though most of all this is dead wood now, any 
one who desires to find these points briefly put and 
answered can find them here more compendiously than 
anywhere else I know of. The book is reprinted in 
" Collected Works, " Vol. II., pp. 778-791. Three years 
later he issued a much longer reply to an anonymous 
critic of the " Key," but it would be uninstructive to 
follow in detail the ancient battle lines. 



AUTHORSHIP IN SOLITUDE 2ol 

Of a totally different nature were two other books 
written during this time of hiding. They are the most 
alive to-day of all his many books, and deservedly 
so. 

One of these is An Essay towards the Present and 
Future Peace of Europe, by the Establishment of an 
European Dyet, Parliament, or Estates. This belongs to 
the class of proposals with which in the fulness of time, 
the air is now alive ; it has recently been reprinted in 
Everyman's Library, with other works of Penn's.* It is 
worthy to rank with the proposals of Henry IV, of France, 
Saint Simon and Emmanuel Kant. We shall remember 
that it was written in 1693, when Europe was suffering 
from a war of alliances, as now. The author offers it in a 
very modest preface, hoping that, even if it be a poor and 
bungling effort, it may be at least neither chimerical 
nor injurious. 

The thesis is argued in quite the modern way. As 
individuals become members of States and substitute law 
for force, so should the Sovereign Princes of Europe come 
under an international assembly, and meet yearly or 
once in two or three years at farthest, as a sovereign 
imperial state of Europe, to adjust differences that diplo- 
macy has failed to settle, " and if any of the sovereignties 
that constitute these imperial states shall refuse to submit 
their claim or pretensions to them, or to abide and 
perform the judgment thereof, and seek their remedy by 
arms, or delay their compliance beyond the time pre- 
fixed in their resolutions, all the other sovereignties, 
united as one strength, shall compel the submission and 
performance of the sentence, with damages to the suffer- 
ing party, and charges to the sovereignties that obliged 
their submission." 

He would have voting power in proportion to the 
value of the country, not its revenue nor exactly its 

* Extracts from it may also be had in pamphlet form. (Headley 
Brothers, 2d.) 



202 WILLIAM PENN 

population. He suggests the following proportions, as 
a rough guess. They are not uninteresting to-day. 

" I suppose the Empire of Germany to send twelve ; France, 
ten ; Spain, ten ; Italy, which comes to France, eight ; England, 
six ; Portugal, three ; Sweedland, four ; Denmark, three ; 
Poland, four ; Venice, three ; the Seven Provinces {i.e., Holland), 
four ; the thirteen Cantons and httle neighbouring sovereignties, 
two ; Dukedoms of Holstein and Courland, one ; and if the Turks 
and Muscovites are taken in, as seems but fit and just, they wiU 
make ten apiece more. The whole makes ninety." 

The doubtful status of Russia, and the relative small- 
ness of the British Empire in those days, are conspicuous 
in contrast with ours. 

" To avoid quarrel for precedency, the room may be round, 
and have divers doors to come in and go out at, to prevent 
exceptions {i.e., causes of taking exception). If the whole number 
be cast into tens, each choosing one, they may preside by turns, to 
whom all speeches should be addressed, and who should collect 
the sense of the debates and state the question for a vote, which 
in my opinion should be by the Ballot, after the precedent and 
commendable method of the Venetians ; which in a great degree 
prevents the ill effects of corruption. 

" It seems to me that nothing in this imperial Parliament 
should pass but by three quarters of the whole, at least seven 
above the balance {i.e., by not less than seven above forty-five, 
or fifty-two votes). I am sure it helps to prevent treachery, 
because if money ever could be a temptation in such a court, it 
would cost a great deal of money to weigh down the wrong scale. 

" Journals should be kept by a proper person, in a trunk or 
chest, which should have as many differing locks as there are 
tens in the States. And if there were a Clerk for each ten, and a 
pew or table for those clerks in the assembly ; and at the end of 
every session one out of each ten were appointed to examine and 
compare the Journals of those Clerks, and then lock them up, it 
would be clear and satisfactory." 

It was further arranged that each sovereignty could 
have a copy of the Proceedings, that each power should 
vote as a unit, and that each should always be present. 



AUTHORSHIP IN SOLITUDE 203 

under great penalties, till the end of every session, and 
" neutralities in debates should by no means be endured. 
For any such latitude will quickly open a way to unfair 
proceedings, and be followed by a train both of seen and 
unseen inconveniences." The language of the Dyet must 
be either Latin or French. " The first would be very well 
for civilians, but the last most easy for men of Quality." 
(So that a classical education for civil servants is of 
ancient date.) He provides for delegates consulting 
their principals at home, which he says may be done in 
four and twenty days at the most, if the place of session 
be central. 

The author then addresses himself to the objections 
that may be offered. One is — " that it will endanger an 
effem.inacy by such a disuse of the trade of soldiery ; that 
if there should be any need for it, upon any occasion, we 
should be at a loss as they were in Holland, in '72." 
He meets this by recommending a disciplined education, 
with "low {i.e., hard) living and due labour." " Instruct 
them in mechanical knowledge and in natural philosophy, 
by operation (laboratory work, no doubt), which is the 
honour of the German nobility." (The modernness 
strikes us again). This would make them men, neither 
women nor Lyons ; for soldiers are 'tother extreme to 
effeminacy. But the knowledge of nature and the use- 
ful as well as agreeable operations of art {i.e., of the arts,) 
give men an understanding of themselves, of the world 
they are born into, how to be useful and serviceable, 
both to themselves and others, and how to save and help, 
not injure or destroy," With regard to lack of soldiery 
to meet an emergency he remarks that they will all be 
alike in that respect ; and that if any Power were found 
keeping a large army, it should be compelled by the 
assembly to reduce it. It recommends the keeping of 
a small force in each nation. 

The next objection is " that there will be great want 
of employment for younger brothers of families, and 



204 WILLIAM PENN 

that the poor must either turn soldiers or thieves." The 
use of armies as social drain pipes is thus frankly put. 
Penn's cure for this is again Education. 

The last objection is what we should now feel to be 
the strongest, " that sovereign princes and states will 
hereby become not sovereign, a thing they will never 
endure." He replies that they remain entirely sovereign 
at home, except in the matter of war establishments. 
" If this be called a lessening of their power, it must be 
because the great fish can no longer eat up the little ones, 
and that each sovereignty is equally defended from injuries 
and disabled from committing them." 

We need not follow the writer through his exposition 
of the benefits of peace. We know them already from 
our own sad experience of losing them. Among them he 
places the recovery of the reputation of Christianity 
among infidels, and appeals for the help of the clergy, as 
others have done. We should save, besides the desola- 
tions of war, " the great expense that frequent and 
splendid embassies require, with all their appendages 
of spies and intelligence . . . and their immoral 
practices, such as corrupting of servants to betray their 
masters." The freedom from devastation is, he says, 
" a blessing that would be very well understood in 
Flanders and Hungary, and indeed upon all the borders 
of sovereignties, which are almost ever the stages of spoil 
and misery." The danger to Europe, in WilHam Penn's 
mind, was the Turk, who had won his victories by the help 
of Christian Princes, but could not defeat them united, 
and would be obliged to join the League peaceably, to 
keep what he had. 

Among other advantages he names the friendly bonds 
that would be maintained between Royal families, whom 
he looked to then for maintaining peace and friendship 
between the countries. It would also allow Princes to 
make love matches, as other people do, instead of state 
alliances through marriages of interest. All this is in 



AUTHORSHIP IN SOLITUDE 205 

marked contrast to the condition for the success of inter- 
nationaHsm laid down by Kant in his treatise ; viz., 
that each country should become a free democracy first. 
There were no free democracies of any large size in Penn's 
time, and such a consummation was probably not within 
his horizon as a practical man. As a man in hiding from 
a Royal warrant he would hardly have ventured to put 
it forward if it had been. As a general statement Kant 
was, I think, nearer the truth than Penn. 

In his conclusion the author instances the federal 
arrangements of the United Provinces as described in 
Sir William Temple's book, as a practical solution of the 
difficulties of his scheme, and an example of a States 
General, meeting at the Hague. Not without historical 
fitness, then, may the future European Court of Concilia- 
tion meet at the Hague. He refers also with admiration 
to the similar Design of Henry IV. of France, for the sake 
of which, he says, he was assassinated by the Spanish 
faction. He concludes by taking little credit to himself, 
" for this great King's example tells us it is fit to be done ; 
and Sir William Temple's History shows us by a surpassing 
instance, that it may be done ; and Europe, by her incom- 
parable miseries, makes it now necessary to be done." 

And yet the necessity remains to-day ever more 
pressingly whilst democracy has become the habit of 
Government in Western Europe, and the bonds of trade 
are multiplied many times, and the wealthy lands to be 
desolated are far more crowded with undefended cities, 
and delegates can communicate in twenty-four minutes 
instead of twenty-four days, and the world has outgrown 
all fitness for war. Surely we cannot be far from the 
sudden crystallisation of this great idea. For it is more 
than three hundred weary and miserable years of warfare 
since Henry of Navarre conceived his great and reasonable 
design. 

The other book struck out a new line, away from 
Quaker apologies. It was called Some Fruits of Solitude, 



2o6 WILLIAM PENN 

in Reflections and Maxims, relating to the conduct of 
Human Life. It was finally in two parts, the second 
being added in 1702, and includes altogether 855 sayings 
on moral questions. It is known shortly as " Penn's 
Maxims," and has had a wonderful vitality. Some 
twenty-six reprints were known to Joseph Smith, the 
Quaker bibliographer, in 1867 ; it exists in verse, 
and in Dutch, French and German. Its precepts 
cover human duty with fair completeness ; they are 
generally true and wise, though there is not that epigram- 
matic quality about them which usually makes sayings 
rememberable. But what is said is well said, and the 
author was undoubtedly an expert. Edmund Gosse 
thought so well of them that he issued a beautiful edition 
with an introduction ; and they also form part of the 
volume in Everyman's Library. I cannot do better than 
sample the contents. From the Preface : — 

" The author blesseth God for his retirement, and kisses that 
gentle hand which led him into it, for though it should prove 
barren to the world, it can never do so to him. 

" He has now had some time he could call his own, a property 
he was never so much master of before ; in which he has taken a 
view of himself and the world, and observed wherein he hath 
hit and missed the mark ; what might have been done, what 
mended, and what avoided in his human conduct. . . . And 
he verily thinks, were he to live his life over again, he could not 
only, with God's grace, serve Him but his neighbour and himself, 
better than he hath done, and have seven years of his time to 
spare. And yet perhaps he hath not been the worst or the idlest 
man in the world ; nor is he the oldest." 

One would like to know which of his crowded activities 
he thought he could have spared, to the extent of seven 
years. But he does not tell us anywhere that I know of. 
He proceeds with a sad summary : — 

" After we have made the just reckonings which retirement 
will help us to, we shall begin to think the world in great measure 
mad, and that we have been in a sort of Bedlam all tliis while." 



AUTHORSHIP IN SOLITUDE 207 

We now select from the maxims themselves : — 

" Education. The World is certainly a great and stately 
Volume of natural Things ; and may be not improperly stiled 
the Hieroglyphicks of a better : But, alas, how very few leaves 
of it do we seriously turn over ! This ought to be the Subject 
of the Education of our Youth, who, at Twenty, when they 
should be fit for Business, know little or nothing of it. 

" We are in Pain to make them Scholars, but not Men ! To 
talk, rather than to know ; which is true Canting. 

" The first Thing obvious to Children is what is sensible 
{i.e., perceived by the senses) ; and that we make no Part of their 
Rudiments. 

" We press their Memory too soon, and puzzle, strain and 
load them with Words and Rules ; to know Grammar and 
Rhetorick, and a strange Tongue or two, that it is ten to one 
may never be useful to them ; leaving their natural Genius to 
Mechanical and Physical or natural Knowledge uncultivated 
and neglected, which should be of exceeding Use and Pleasure 
to them through the whole Course of their Life. 

" To be sure Languages are not to be despised or neglected. 
But Things are still to be preferred. 

" Children had rather be making of Tools and Instruments of 
Play ; shaping, drawing, framing and Building, etc., than getting 
some Rules of Propriety of Speech by Heart : And those also 
would follow with more Judgment and less trouble and time. 

" Temperance. To this a spare Diet contributes much. Eat 
therefore to hve, and do not live to eat. That's hke a Man, but 
this below a Beast. 

" Have wholesome but not costly food, and be rather cleanly 
than dainty in ordering it. 

" It is a cruel Folly to offer up to Ostentation so many Lives 
of Creatures as make up the State of our Treats ; as it is a prodigal 
one to spend more in Sauce than in Meat. 

" If thou rise with an Appetite, thou art sure never to sit down 
without one. 

" Rarely drink but when thou art Dry ; not then, between 
Meals, if it can be avoided. (He probably means alcoholic drink.) 

" The most common Things are the most useful ; which 
shews both the Wisdom and Goodness of the Great Lord of the 
Family of the World, 



2o8 WILLIAM PENN 

" Apparel. Excess in Apparel is another costly Folly ; The 
very Trimming of the vain World will cloath all the Naked One. 

" Chuse thy Cloaths by thine own Eyes, not another's. The 
more plain and simple they are, the better. Neither Unshapely, 
not Fantastical ; and for Use and Decency, and not for Pride. 

" If thou art clean and warm, it is sufficient ; for more doth 
but rob the Poor, and please the Wanton. 

" Marriage. Never marry but for Love ; but see that thou 
lov'st what is lovely. 

"It is the Difference between Lust and Love, that this is 
fix'd, that Volatile. Love grows. Lust wastes by Enjoyment : 
And the Reason is, that one springs from an Union of Souls, and 
the other springs from an Union of Sense. 

" Men are generally more careful of the Breed of their Horses 
and Dogs, than of their Children. 

" Those must be of the best Sort, for Shape, Strength, Courage 
and good Conditions ; But as for these, their own Posterity, 
Money shall answer all Things. With such, it makes the Crooked 
Streight, sets Squint-Eyes right, cures Madness, covers Folly, 
changes ill Conditions, mends the Skin, gives a sweet Breath, 
repairs Honours, makes Young, works Wonders. 

" Frequent Visits, Presents, intimate Correspondence and 
Intermarriages, within allowed Boimds, are means of keeping up 
the Concern and Affection that Nature requires from Relations. 
(A highly doubtful doctrine about inter-marriage.) 

" Friendship. There can be no Friendship where there is no 
Freedom. Friendship loves a free Air, and will not be penned 
up in streight and narrow Enclosures. It will speak freely, and 
act so too ; and take nothing ill. where no 111 is meant ; nay, 
where it is, 'twill easily forgive, and forget too, upon small 
Acknowledgements. 

" A true Friend unbosoms freely, advises justly, assists readily, 
adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, 
and continues a Friend unchangeable. 

" Reparation. If thou hast done an Injury to another, rather 
own it than defend it. One Way thou gainest Forgiveness, the 
other thou doublest the Wrong and Reckoning. 

" Some oppose Honour to Submission : But it can be no 
Honour to maintain what it is dishonourable to do. 

" Conversation. Some are so foolish as to interrupt and 



AUTHORSHIP IN SOLITUDE 209 

anticipate those that spealc instead of hearing and thinking before 
they answer ; which is uncivil as well as silly. 

" If thou thinkest twice before thou speakest once, thou 
wilt speak twice the better for it. 

" Give no advantage in Argument, nor lose any that is offered. 
This is a Benefit which arises from Temper. 

" Knowledge. He that has more Knowledge than Judgment, 
is made for another Man's Use more than his own. 

" It cannot be a good Constitution where the Appetite is 
great and the Digestion weak. 

" There are some men like Dictionaries ; to be look'd into 
upon Occasion, but have no Connexion, and are little entertaining. 

" Country Life. The Country Life is to be preferr'd ; for 
there we see the Works of God ; but in Cities little else but the 
Works of Men ; And the one makes a better Subject for our 
Contemplation than the other 

" As Puppets are to Men and Babies to Children, so is Man's 
Workmanship to God's : We are the Pictures, he the Reality. 

" The Country is both the Philosopher's Garden and Library, 
in which he reads and Contemplates the Power, Wisdom and 
Goodness of God. 

" Temporal Happiness. Do Good with what thou hast, or 
it will do thee no good. 

" The Generality are the worse for their Plenty. The Volup- 
tuous consumes it, the Miser hides it : 'Tis the Good Man that 
uses it, and to good Purposes. But such are hardly found 
among the Prosperous. 

" Neither make nor go to Feasts, but let the laborious Poor 
bless those at Home in their soHtary Cottages. 

" Act not the Shark upon thy Neighbour ; nor take Advantage 
of the Ignorance, Prodigality or Necessity of any one ; for that is 
next door to Fraud, and, at best, makes but an unbless'd Gain. 

" Passion. Not to be provok'd is best : But if mov'd, never 
correct till the Fume is spent ; For every Stroke our Fury strikes 
is sure to hit ourselves at last. 

" Passion is a sort of Fever in the Mind, which ever leaves us 
weaker than it found us. 

" It may not unfitly be termed the Mob of the Man that 
commits a Riot upon his Reason. 

" Various. It is too common an Error, to invert the Order of 

14 



210 WILLIAM PENN 

Things ; by making an End of that which is a Means, and a 
Means of that which is an End. 

" Rehgion and Government escape riot this Mischief ; The 
first is too often made a Means instead of an End ; the other an 
End instead of a Means. 

" Affect not to be seen, and Men will less see thy Weakness. 

" A Private Life is to be preferred ; the Honour and Gain of 
Pubhck Posts bearing no Proportion with the comfort of it. The 
one is free and quiet, the other servile and noisy. 

" Yet the Publick must and will be serv'd ; and they that do 
it well deserve pubhck Marks of Honour and Profit. 

" The truest end of Life is to know the I^ife that never Ends. 

" Religion. Let us chuse, therefore, to commune where there 
is the warmest Sense of Religion ; where Devotion exceeds 
Formality, and Practise most corresponds with Profession ; and 
where there is at least as much Charity as Zeal ; For where this 
Society is to be found, there shall we find the Church of God. 

" As good, so ill Men are all of a Church ; and every Body knows 
who must be Head of it. 

" The Humble, Meek, Merciful, Just, Pious, and Devout 
souls, are everywhere of one Religion ; and when Death has taken 
off the Mask, they will know one another, though the diverse 
Liveries they wear here make them Strangers. 

" But to be sure that Religion cannot be right that a Man is 
the Worse for having. 

" No Religion is better than an Unnatural one. 

" A Devout Man is one thing, a Stickler is quite another. 

" To be Furious in ReUgion is to be Irreligiously Religious. 

" It were better to be of no Church than to be bitter for any. 

" Force may subdue, but Love gains : And he that forgives fiirst 
wins the Laurel. 

" speech. Speak properly and in as few Words as you can, 
but always plainly ; for the end of Speech is not Ostentation 
but to be understood. 

" They that affect Words more than Matter will dry up that 
little they have. 

" This Labouring of slight Matter with flourished Turns 
of Expression is fulsome and worse than the Modern Imitation 
of Tapestry and East India Goods in Stuffs and Linens. In 
short, 'tis but Taudry Talk, and next to very Trash. 



AUTHORSHIP IN SOLITUDE 211 

" Of the Interest of the Puhlick in our Estates. Hardly any 
Thing is given us for our selves, but the Publick may claim a 
share with us. But of all we call ours, we are most accountable 
to God and the Publick for our Estates ; in this we are but 
Stewards, and to hoard up all to our selves is great Injustice 
as well as ingratitude. 

" If all men were so far Tenants to the Publick, that the 
Superfluities of Gain and Expence were applied to the Exigencies 
thereof, it would put an End to Taxes, leave never a Beggar, and 
make the greatest Bank for National Trade in Europe. 

" But some say. It ruins Trade, and will make the Poor 
Burdensome to the Publick ; But if such Trade in Consequence 
ruins the Kingdom is it not Time to ruin that Trade ? Is Moder- 
ation no Part of our Duty and Temperance an Enemy to 
Government } 

" Is there no better Employment for the Poor than Luxury ? 
Miserable Nation ! 

" What did they before they fell into these forbidden Methods ? 
Is there not Land enough in England to cultivate, and more and 
better Manufactures to be made ? 

" Have we no Room for them in our Plantations, about Things 
that may augment Trade, without Luxury ? 

" But it is an Injustice too ; since those higher Ranks of Men 
are but the Trustees of Heaven for the Benefit of Lesser Mortals, 
who, as Minors, are entitled to all their Care and Provision. 

" For tho' God has dignified some Men above their Brethren, it 
neither was to serve their Pleasures, but that they might take 
Pleasure to serve the Publick. 

" But that any one Man should make Work for so many ; or 
rather keep them from Work, to make up a Train, has a 
Levity or Luxury in it very reprovable, both in religion and 
Government." 

These extracts constitute one thirteenth of the book, 
and are among the best sa3dngs in it. The author's 
generous soul was more revolted by avarice and parsimony 
than by any other fault, if we may judge by the strength of 
his attack on it. There is also much about political 
morality, and the politicians he had met had been, on the 
whole a very depressing company; as indeed, we know 



212 WILLIAM PENN 

them to have been. Penn's views on luxury, and on 
property being a trust, are still greatly needed. 

From their great and continued popularity Friends 
clearly found in this modest book what the Jews found in 
the Book of Proverbs and other " Wisdom " literature, 
and what later society in England found in the " Pro- 
verbial Philosophy" of Martin Tupper, now laughed 
out of existence, and in the sayings of Poor Richard, by 
Benjamin Franklin. They exceed in substance Bernard 
Shaw's collection in the supplement to Man and Superman, 
as much as they are inferior in wit. 

There is hardly any record of events in these years. 
In February, 1691, Anthony Lowther arranged for Henry 
Sidney to visit Penn, who protested his innocence, but 
would not give any positive answer about having been 
present at some conference. He asked to see the King 
personally, and offered explanations and information. It 
would seem probable that he had been cognisant of some 
conference of the discontented, not criminal or treasonable, 
at an early stage, and that, perhaps failing that move- 
ment, the Jacobites had plotted by themselves. Penn 
said, " I have refused all other offers of future safety or 
accommodation." This doubtless represents Jacobite 
advances. Narcissus Luttrell enters in his diary for 
i8th September, 1691 : " Wm, Penn the Quaker is got 
off from Shoreham in Sussex and gone to France " 
(ii. 286), This only shows how great are the gaps in our 
knowledge at this point. There is another saying of 
Penn's : " I have been above these three years hunted up 
and down and could never be allowed to live quietly in city 
or country."* Interpreted strictly this is not exactly a 
description of a confinement in one place. On the whole 
it is better not to interpret it strictly. 



* Janney, p. 367. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

Pennsylvania 

1684-1699 

The history of the new colony on the Delaware, since 
Governor Penn had left it in 1684, was not such as a writer 
of romance, governed by poetic justice, would have 
imagined it to be. It was no scene of idyllic peace, each 
man under his own vine and fig tree, friendly with his 
neighbours, and turning with joy the wilderness into a 
fruitful garden. There was all this behind, but super- 
ficially, and to the annalist, it was a scene of ceaseless 
quarrelling, caused by nothing but the clash of strongly 
individual temperaments, without the guidance of the one 
man whom they all revered. When William Penn was 
himself in America, all went smoothly, but until the last 
decade of his life there was never very prolonged peace 
and quietness during his absence. I imagine that the 
early Quakers were most of them, to begin with, men of 
strong personality, tough, stubborn, and little accustomed 
to defer to any man. It needed, indeed, men of unusual 
grit to bear the imprisonments and face the judges of 
the old country. From these restraints they were 
suddenly transplanted to a land of perfect liberty ; but 
they were wholly unaccustomed to the responsibilities 
of government, from which they had been rigidly excluded 
at home. All their lives they had been against the evil 
government from which they had fled, and obedient as 
they were to the wishes of the founder, they did not stand 



214 WILLIAM PENN 

one another's government very well. The unkind might 
even suggest that there were cranks amongst them. It 
is, at any rate, a fact that every Utopian colony made by 
men who have fled from the pomps, vanities and wealth 
of the world, has been similarly troubled by faction. 
What is still more important, the colony early attracted 
many who were mere adventurers, hostile to the Quaker 
control. 

In relation to the Indians, indeed, William Penn had 
already effected perfect peace, and his colonists willingly 
seconded his efforts. Mutual trust reigned. At the 
great treaty on the 23rd of June, 1683, with Tamanen 
or Taminent and other chiefs, the price to be paid for 
the lands sold was entirely left to William Penn. They 
were to receive " so much wampum, so many guns, shoes, 
stockings, looking-glasses, blankets and other goods as he 
the said William Penn, shall please to give unto we." 
In addition Tamanen received several guylders in silver.* 

By a series of purchases from other Sachems Penn had 
bought all the land in the south-east corner of Penn- 
sylvania. It is noticeable that no ardent spirits 
are to be found in any of his Pennsylvanian transactions. 
His deputy, Markham, had sold the Indians rum before 
his arrival, and it was commonly done by other purchasers, 
but the evil effects upon the aborigines were only too 
manifest. There were difficulties with the colony of New 
York, whose governors and Provincial Council were 
afraid that the Indians of the Susquehanna, a river which 
flows south through the heart of Pennsylvania, and was 
within Penn's grant, should find it more profitable to 
sell their furs to the friendly people on the Delaware, 
rather than to bring them north to Albany. 

Frequent attempts were made to take the Susquehanna 
region from Penn's dominions, and even, a little later on, 
in 1691, to dispossess Penn altogether. There was no doubt 

* "Pennsylvania, Colonial and Federal," by Howard M. Jenkins, 
Vol. I., p. 287. 



PENNSYLVANIA 215 

that his Quakerism, his democracy, and his remarkable 
humanity to the Indians, were not pleasing to the ordinary 
men in other settlements. There was no congregation of 
the Church of England till 1695. The Society of Friends 
was, in fact, the only organised form of religion in the 
province. Thomas Lloyd, of Dolobran, a prominent 
Welshman who had brought with him his wife and nine 
children in 1683, was left as President of the Council 
and Keeper of the Great Seal, and he with two others 
were commissioners of property, to deal 'with the buying 
and selling of the proprietor's land. 

The first feud came to a head in May, 1685, when the 
Assembly presented a Declaration against Nicholas 
Moore, on account of his assumpton of arbitrary power. 
He had formerly been the Speaker, but had got into trouble 
over that and was now a Judge. The accusations seem 
to have been well grounded. He had even attempted 
to coerce juries, and had manufactured a charge of 
perjury. He had also called the Provincial Council 
fools and loggerheads, and said it would be well if all 
the laws had dropped, and there would never be good 
times as long as Quakers had the administration. He 
was superseded as a Judge. Thomas Lloyd desired to be 
relieved of office at the end of 1687, and soon after the 
Council under his Presidency ended, Penn sent over 
a commission to five persons, including Lloyd, to act 
with the powers of deputy governor. The real difficulty 
was that no member of the Society of Friends was exactly 
the man for a deputy, because there had to be transactions 
with the British Government concerning war taxation 
and other military and naval matters, from which the 
colony could not be free, and yet which no Friend could 
conscientiously carry out. Yet any one who was not a 
Friend would be sure to find it extremely difficult to work 
harmoniously with the Quaker Assembly and the Quaker 
population ; in fact Penn's lieutenants rarely succeeded 
in doing so. On the whole one thinks that the choice of 



2i6 WILLIAM PENN 

suitable agents was not one of William Penn's strong 
points. He was too trustful and optimistic. That went 
with his general character, and was the source of much of 
his strength. To be a Quaker at all you have to have 
faith in human-kind, and to be an apostle of Quakerism 
does not go well with even moderate and prudent suspicion 
of others. We cannot all do everything, and in the point 
of employing subordinates, whether for his own affairs 
or for those of Pennsylvania, William Penn had the 
defects of his qualities. Nevertheless, Markham was a 
success, and Logan a treasure, and some others passably 
good. 

No Friend being willing to take the Lieutenant- 
Governorship, Penn appointed Captain John Blackwell, 
who was then in New England. He had been Treasurer to 
the Army of the Commonwealth, and was a man of stainless 
integrity, who had refused great preferment under the 
Restoration because he would not live upon perquisites. 
He was General Lambert's son-in-law and a sound 
Puritan, and he seems to have been a man of piety and 
nobility of spirit. His innocent idea was that a Governor 
governed, and he proceeded to revise the membership of 
the Council, which at this early date was popularly 
elected. Thomas Lloyd, however, gave him much 
trouble. He was Keeper of the Great Seal and Master 
of the Rolls. He refused to affix the seal to some of 
Blackwell' s commissions and would not leave the said seal 
behind him when he went to New York. Nor would he 
give up the official correspondence which he had had 
during his Presidency. When he was expelled from the 
Council by Blackwell, he nevertheless entered the room 
and refused to withdraw, having been popularly elected, 
and scenes followed. The leading Quakers did not get on 
with Blackwell, to whom William Penn wrote in 1689 : 

" I would be as little vigorous as possible ; and do desire thee, 
by all the obligation I and my present circumstances can have 
upon thee to desist ye prosecution of Thomas Lloyd. I entirely 



PENNSYLVANIA 217 

know ye person both in his weakness and accompUshment, and 
would thee end ye dispute between you two upon my single request 
and command, and that former inconveniences be rather mended 
than punished." 

Blackwell, acting according to his lights, had tried to raise 
a militia. In November of 1689 war with France was 
expected, and Blackwell was ordered from England to 
prepare to defend Pennsylvania. The Quaker Assembly 
was put into some difficulty, and finally ended by leaving 
the whole matter to the Government and washing their 
hands of all responsibility. Soon after this, at the request 
of both Blackwell and his enemies, Penn allowed him 
to resign, and submitted to the Council two commissions, 
of which they might adopt either. One of them authorised 
the whole body to act with full power under a President 
of their own choice, and the other permitted them to 
name three persons from whom he could choose one as 
Lieutenant-Governor. The Council unanimously took 
up the whole authority for themselves under the former 
alternative, and elected Thomas Lloyd President.* 
At this time, by Penn's instruction, a Public Grammar 
School, now the Penn Charter School, was established. 
Under Lloyd as President, the three lower counties, now 
the state of Delaware, complained of serious injustice. 
This quarrel prevented the Governorship question, which 
was reopened at the beginning of 1691, from being 
properly settled. A temporary secession of the three 
lower counties took place. From his retirement Penn 
writes of the lower counties : " The Lord forgive them 
their unspeakable injury to me and mine." They were 
not mainly Quaker districts. In the upshot Lloyd 
became Lieutenant-Governor of Pennsylvania and 
Markham Lieutenant-Governor of the three lower 

* A letter from William Penn puts it rather differently. " I left it to 
them to choose either the Government of the Council , or five Commissioners 
and deputy, what could be tenderer ? " Janney, p. 372. The statement 
in the text is from " Pennsylvania, Colonial and Federal." 



2i8 WILLIAM PENN 

counties of the Delaware, The plan worked harmoniously, 
and the two deputy governors and council wrote a loyal 
and affectionate letter to the Governor hoping for his 
early return to the province. To the above political 
squabbles was added a religious schism. 

George Keith was one of the inner, indeed the inmost, 
circle of Quaker leaders. He was from Aberdeen, a 
learned University man, whose special subject was Mathe- 
matics. He had been with William Penn and Robert 
Barclay to Germany, had written many books and 
suffered many imprisonments. His first business in 
America was that of Surveyor-General of East Jersey. 
For a year he taught the new Public Grammar School 
in Philadelphia, but for the most part he travelled about 
the colonies preaching Quakerism of the most severe 
type. The seeds of his future apostasy may be seen even 
at this period in the fact that he contended for greater 
plainness of dress. This insists on an outward form rather 
than an inward grace. A tendency to follow the line of the 
Scribes and Pharisees in this matter became early observ- 
able after the death of Fox in 1691. Margaret Fox in 
her old age had to write and testify earnestly against the 
spirit of formal drabness which has been, in fact, a great 
error and weakness in Quaker history. Keith also pro- 
posed rules of discipline and a Confession of Faith. 
He would admit no one to membership by birth. They 
had to adopt the Confession on doctrinal points. More- 
over liberty of prophesying was to give way to a permit 
to speak or offer prayer given by a meeting constituted of 
confessing members. This latter would indeed have 
destroyed all that was most valuable in the liberty of the 
Quaker Gospel. He went on in the same path by accusing 
two Friends of declaring that the Light of Christ was 
sufficient for salvation without anything else. Keith 
championed, in all the blindness of those days, the his- 
torical Jesus against the living Christ. We next hear of 
his being accused of doubting the efficacy and universality 



PENNSYLVANIA - 219 

of divine grace, limiting it doubtless to those who had 
accepted historical Christianity. These are the usual 
steps from Quakerism to the Church of England. The 
matter was mixed up with personalities, as such things 
are apt to be. Keith was no doubt the ablest preacher 
and the best scholar in the colony, and he had probably 
some crudities to sit under. He carried his views to the 
point of a separation, and holding a meeting of his own 
Friends, suspended his accusers from the ministry. 
All witnesses testify to his being of a contentious and 
difficult temper. We find that he told the Quarterly 
Meeting of ministers in the following year, 1692, that there 
were " more damnable heresies and doctrines of devils 
among the Quakers than among any profession of 
Protestants." His disownment followed. Several 
separated meetings were set up. Shortly after he was 
tried before the County Court and fined for slander 
against Thomas Lloyd and Samuel Jenings, one of the 
justices. He was fined, but the fines were not exacted ; 
the printer who had published his " Address to the 
Quakers " was nominally thrown into prison with a man 
who had circulated it, and another who had written a 
pamphlet on his side. But the printer, Bradford, when 
he wanted to get into prison to sign a document from 
there, could not do so, as the gaoler was away with the 
key, so he signed it from the entry outside.* The state- 
ment was that these writings tended to sedition, but 
doubtless it came perilously near a mild form of reHgious 
persecution. It was freely so called by the enemies of 
Quakerism. Keith finally became a minister of the 
Church of England and a great opponent of Friends, in 
whose side he remained a thorn so long as he lived. But 
his Anglicanism devitalised the Separation he had 
caused, which, as an organisation, died with the century. 
His story is the first of the many incursions of orthodox 
Evangelical ideas into the Society of Friends. It is 

* Isaac Sharpless in " Quakers in American Colonies," p. 451. 



220 WILLIAM PENN 

noticeable that he called his separated Friends the 
" Christian " Quakers. 

Isaac Sharpless* tells a strange story that a gallery 
opposite the regular ministers' gallery was erected 
in Bank Meeting, Philadelphia, by the friends of Keith 
for his own use. Two of the trustees of the Meet- 
ing told them to tear it down, whereupon they tore 
down the old gallery : also that " Keith who was present, 
laughed and expressed his satisfaction." 

This trouble was one more of those which fell upon the 
suffering head of William Penn during the dark years 
which followed the Revolution. His intimate friend 
Robert Turner had joined Keith, and had written about 
it to Penn, who sent him the following reply from his 
hiding in London : 

" London, 29th of 9th mo., '92. 

" Dear Robert Turner : — My love in the Lord salutes thee 
and thine, and the Lord's people thereaway, and the inhabitants 
also : much wishing your preservation in this perilous day, both 
inwardly and outwardly. 

" Thine I have by T. H., and presented thine to G. W., &c., 
and as to the difference among Friends, my heart is bowed under it, 
chiefly on truth's account, for I never felt a thought of interest 
stir in several days after it came to me. But it has helped me 
into a fever that has attended me above five weeks, of which I 
am now, through mercy, better. I see this difference is more in 
spirit than in words or matter, an unbearing, untravailing frame 
[of mind,] for one another, not considering how much and how 
far they should have borne for his sake that has borne so much for 
us all. . . . 

" My soul's travail is, in that which is of God and leads to 
Him, and keeps to Him, that G. K. would, in the ancient meek- 
ness and tenderness in which he was right worthy to me, let fall 
his separate meeting, and that now they meet together as before, 
for I hope peace would follow. For as to believing in Christ's 
manhood, it is Friends' principle he is like unto us in all things, sin 
excepted, and that manhood is not vanisht ; though out of our 

* Ibid. p. 452 



PENNSYLVANIA ' 221 

sight, it is somewhere, and wherever it is, it must be in a glorified 
state, but what that state is, or where it is, or how to frame ideas of 
either in our minds, are intrusions or curiosities above what is 
written or convenient. Can we hope our manhood shall be 
glorified and deny his to be so, that made way with his, within the 
vail, for ours ? He is glorified for us, as our common head, and 
we shall, with him, be glorified too, as his members, if we through 
patience and tribulation overcome also. 

" Wherefore, dear Robert, urge this on George ; but now 
when this is said, that Christ came in our nature, and has glorified 
it as an eternal temple to himself, yet he is to be known nearer 
(than so without us) and that is, in us. Thus Paul knew him, and 
preached him as the riches of the glory of the Christian day, the 
mystery hid from ages and generations and then revealed, ' Christ 
in them the hope and glory.' He makes it the character and 
discrimination of a Christian, 2 Cor. xiii. 5, and Christ taught 
himself that it was expedient he went, as outwardly, that he 
might send them that which would be better for them, and what 
was that but his own appearance in spirit, ' I will not leave you 
comfortless, I will come to you,' and ' he that was with them shall 
be in them,' John xiv. So that tho' the nature and transactions 
of Christ are reverently believed, and are more than historical, 
looking back to the beginning of the world and forward to the end 
of it ; yet the immediate object of our mind, and requisite and 
profitable exercise thereof, is the spiritual appearance of Christ 
in us, which is a step nearer to us than our natural without us, 
because it is being in us ; this is what God has turned our minds 
into, and what knowledge we had before we counted as dross 
comparatively. Here it was we came to know God aright, 
sensibly and virtuously to our souls ; and by obeying this mani- 
festation we came to read Scripture edifyingly, and to our comfort, 
and to value aright God's love in all former dispensations, more 
especially that of his Son as the crown of them ; but then our 
religion stood, and must stand, as the living work of God in us, in 
our conformity to his will, death to self entirely, as the passage 
to life, in him who is our Ufe. This sweet, this blessed knowledge 
and fellowship is what we have been led to press and prefer as 
bringing things home, and the work to our own doors and houses, 
which is, to me, the glory and excellence of our dispensation ; 
so it is, I know, to the many thousands of Israel. 



222 WILLIAM PENN 

" Oh let this be still our holy care, love, and business, and great 
shall be our reward, when the Rewarder comes to judge the 
world." 

The division between the Province and the Terri- 
tories, and the Keith separation were made the most of 
in London, at Court and Parliament, by those who 
desired the catastrophe which was about to fall. It was 
said that the province was in a state of ruin. 

Thus fed, the suspicion and unpopularity which 
attached to any friend of James, though no accusation of 
treason lay, caused William Penn to be deprived of the 
government of Pennsylvania and the Delaware counties. 
In October, 1692, this was handed over to the care of 
Benjamin Fletcher, the Governor of New York. We were 
at war with France, and it did not appear to the English 
Government to be prudent to leave a British colony in 
the hands of men who were conscientiously opposed to 
war. Commissions took a long time to cross the Atlantic 
in those days, and it was not till April, 1693, that Governor 
Fletcher took possession. He made Markham (Penn's 
young relative) Lieutenant-Governor and behaved very 
reasonably both towards Friends and towards the pro- 
prietor's rights. To the demand of the Government for 
a war tax, the Assembly granted, in 1693, a tax of a penny 
per pound for the support of the Government, and the 
next year proposed to do the same in reply to the Govern- 
ment's promise that, in consideration of their scruples, the 
money should not be " dipped in blood " but should feed 
the hungry and clothe the naked Indians, who were 
unable to hunt because fighting for the English.* There 
was trouble in the colony all along on account of this 
essential difficulty between the Quaker colonists and the 
warlike necessities of the English Government. Penn was 
badly wanted in the colony, but could not come. He was 
as we have seen in hiding in London under a warrant 

* "Pennsylvania, Colonial and Federal," p. 327. 



PENNSYLVANIA 223 

for treason. He was liberated on November 30th, 1693, 
and on the ensuing February 4th he wrote to his friends 
in Philadelphia asking that one hundred persons would 
lend him ;^ioo each for three years without interest, in 
which case he would be able to come and bring his 
family to Philadelphia. But the application was not 
successful; a fact not creditable to those who owed 
everything to him. 

It appeared to him that the only way to save 
Pennsylvania from Crown government and avert the 
failure of all his hopes, was to come to some kind of terms 
with the Government. At the beginning of August 
1694, 

" He promised the Committee for Trade and Plantations that if 
restored to the government he would, with all convenient speed, 
go to Pennsylvania and would transmit to the Council and Assem- 
bly Queen Mary's orders, which he declared he did not doubt 
would be complied with, as well as at all times such orders as their 
Majesties might give, for supplying a quota of men or defraying 
the share of their expenses their Majesties might think necessary 
for the safety of the dominions in America. Furthermore, he 
would appoint Markham as his deputy, and if the Government 
of Pennsylvania should not comply with the royal orders he would 
submit the direction of the military to their majesties' pleasure."* 

There is no written statement to this effect by Penn. 
We have only the statement of the Committee as to the 
sense of his words : and I suspect a shade of bias and 
exaggeration in the minute their secretary made. 

Thus did William Penn endeavour to make the best 
compromise he could between the legitimate demands of 
the Government and the legitimate principles of the 
Quaker colony. We must remember that both the 
Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General had stated 
that, as Pennsylvania was still part of the Empire, Penn 
could be superseded by another governor when it became 
necessary to protect or defend the province. In response 

* " Pennsylvania, Colonial and Federal," p. 327. 



224 WILLIAM PENN 

to the above overture William and Mary restored the 
government by letters patent in August, 1694, received 
in Philadelphia the following March. A quota of eighty 
men with their officers, or the expense of maintaining 
such a body, were to be available from Pennsylvania 
for the use of the government at New York. Penn, 
restored to power, continued Markham as Lieutenant- 
Governor, not being able to return himself. This was the 
best that could be done, considering the English connec- 
tion. How it appeared to the Governor's mind ma}' be 
seen from the following letter of explanation addressed to 
Friends in Pennsylvania : — 

" Bristol, 24tb of 9th month, 1694. 

" Dear Friends and Brethren : — My ancient love without 
reserve salutes and embraces you in the sense of that which has 
been the root of our fellowship, and of all God's people since the 
world began, in which the Lord preserve us to the end. 

" By this you will understand that by the good providence of 
God, I am restored to my former administration of government, 
which I hope will be some relief and comfort to you that have been 
exercised by the late interruption upon us. That things are not 
just now put into that posture as you may reasonably desire, you 
must not take amiss, for neither will the straitness of the times, 
nor the circumstances we are under to the Lords of the Plantations 
permit another method at this time. And as soon as I can make 
my way to that which is as much my inclination as yours (and 
which I hope to do in a short time), depend upon it, I shall do my 
utmost to make you entirely easy. Accept this part of the good- 
ness of God, and wait for the rest. 

" We must creep where we cannot go, and it is necessary for 
us, in the things of this life, to be wise as to be innocent. A word 
to the wise is enough. My return will, I hope, put an end to all 
our civil griefs, which at least I long for, not for any worldly 
advantage, but to discharge a conscience to God and to you, and 
I hope that you shall singly be the mark and rule of the remainder 
of my life, both in this and in all other things that may attend it, 

Fletcher applied for the eighty men in April, 1695. 
They were to be at Albany as soon as possible after the 



PENNSYLVANIA 2^5 

2ist of May, but did not come. A second application 
was similarly fruitless ; then came harvest ^ so that the 
Assembly did not meet before the 9th of September. 
Markham, who, it will be remembered, was not a Friend 
but a soldier, and whose lack of Quaker principle was — 
under the circumstances — one of the qualifications for 
his post, asked the Assembly whether they would be 
willing that "if an enemy should assault us I should 
defend you by force of arms.* Some answered that they 
would, others that they must leave everyone to his own 
principle, and that Governor Penn's instructions must be 
followed, the responsibility lying with him. It is 
noticeable and very human that the Assembly, always 
agitating during this period for more power and indepen- 
dance, were not so anxious to shoulder the responsibility 
that must go with power, but in a tight place, now for 
the second time, said the governor was the responsible 
authority. In fact, on taxation and finance, he was not. 
Finally they voted £250 for the Government, but recalled 
Fletcher's promise that the money should be applied to pro- 
viding for the Indians, and that the vote should be deemed 
" a compliance as far as conscience and ability permitted." 
They further tacked an Act of Settlement, establishing a 
new Charter, to their money vote, but Markham had no 
authority to bind William Penn by a new charter, and so 
the Assembly was dissolved without any money having 
gone for military purposes. It is impossible not to 
sympathise with Fletcher, who wrote in June 1696 : 

" The town of Philadelphia in fourteen years' time is become 
equal to the city of New York in trade and riches, that many 
people have gone to Philadelphia to enjoy their ease and avoid 
the hardship of defending New York, and their being Free Trade 
in Philadelphia business had gone there."f 

So much for peaceful methods and Free Trade. 

* " Pennsylvania, Colonial and Federal," p. 331. 
t " Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal," p. 331. 

16 



236 WILLIAM PENN 

The Assembly of 1696 propounded a new Frame of 
Government to supersede that of 1683, though on similar 
principles. The Assembly claimed the power of originating, 
as well as vetoing Bills. It also voted a penny per 
pound for the Government, which raised £300 for Fletcher, 
who thanked them but said that what he had asked for 
was £2,000. 

These inter-colonial dissensions caused William Penn 
in London to suggest to the Lords of Trade and Plantations 
that there should be a common Assembly for all the 
colonies in America, which should settle matters in 
dispute and assign the quotas to each colony. Like so 
many of William Penn's ideas, it took shape long after his 
time, and the Congress held at Albany in 1754 was the 
beginning of the union which was ultimately effected in 
the revolutionary war. 

Meantime Markham continued to administer Pennsyl- 
vania. There arose a Quaker and an anti-Quaker party, 
the latter centred round Christ Church, Philadelphia. 
There was much piracy on the coast and the officials of 
all the colonies were accused of corrupt acquiescence in it. 
On the whole, however, the years of restored Government, 
1694 to 1699, represent a time of peace and prosperity 
in the Colony, which must at that time have been one 
of the happiest places in a war-ridden world. 

But the machinery of government had one flaw which 
rendered it difficult from the beginning and always. The 
colony was intended to be a free democracy. That 
was the object of its founder. Yet it was also a feudal 
domain, the personal property of one landlord, who also 
held, from a power outside all these Assemblies, the com- 
plete control of government. What the democracy had, 
they had from Penn's goodwill. They were so well off 
that they wanted to be better off. They had more corn 
than tends to docility in horses. Only the presence and 
influence of the paternal aristocrat who regarded them as 
his children, could work such an incongruous government. 



PENNSYLVANIA 227 

Evils like these or worse have beset every attempt at a 
local Utopia, every community which tries to be in the 
world but not of it. These allowances must be made 
before we begin to judge the success of the Holy Experi- 
ment. They are not to be debited as reproaches or as 
failure ; they are to be counted among the disadvantages 
the colony brought from the Old World, against which the 
free spirit had to struggle, and which brought all his life 
poverty and sorrow to William Penn. He might have 
been a happy and successful Colonial governor ; he might 
have been an active and powerful English leader in 
religion and the State. His misfortune, or his great call, 
was that he had to be both. 

Complaints against the Lieutenant Governor for 
condoning smuggling were kept up by Colonel Quarry, 
the British Revenue officer, in his reports to the 
Government. Quarry was the head of all the dis- 
contented, and used Markham's frailties, whatever they 
might have been or could be represented to be, to weaken 
the Proprietary Government. The state of tension 
between Markham and Quarry on the Delaware spread to 
a similar state between Penn and the Lords of Planta- 
tions. Finally, when Markham was accused of refusing 
to capture a pirate vessel in the river, the Council of Trade 
and Plantations deposed him. Penn, having heard of 
this coming blow, sent word that he was going over 
himself, of which the Council cordially approved. 



CHAPTER XIX 

The Battle of Life 
1693-1699 

We return to England where we left William Penn in 
hiding under a warrant for treason. Liberation finally 
came at the close of 1693, and it cannot be told of better 
than by Penn himself in a letter to Thomas Lloyd and 
others : 

" Hodson,* nth of loth mo., 1693. 

" Friends : — This comes by the Pennsylvania Merchant, 

Harrison, commander, and C. Saunders, merchant. By them 
and this, know, that it hath pleased God to work my enlargement, 
by three lords representing my case as not only hard, but 
oppressive ; that there was nothing against me but what im- 
postors or those that are fled, or that have, since their pardon, 
refused to verify, (and asked me pardon for saying what they did,) 
alleged against me ; that they had long known me, some of them 
thirty years, and had never known me to do an ill thing, but many 
good offices ; and that for not being thought to go abroad in 
defiance to the government, I might and would have done it two 
years ago ; and that I was, therefore, willing to wait to go about 
my affairs, as before, with leave ; that I might be the better 
respected in the liberty I took to follow it. 

" King WilUam answered, ' That I was his old acquaintance, 
as well as theirs ; and that I might follow my business as freely 
as ever ; and that he had nothing to say to me,' — upon which they 
pressed him to command one of them to declare the same to the 
secretary of state, Sir John Trenchard, that if I came to him or 
otherwise, he might signify the same to me, which he also did. 

* Hoddesdon, doubtless. 
228 



THE BATTLE OF LIFE 229 

The lords were Rochester, Ranelagh, and Sidney ; and the last, 
as my greatest acquaintance, was to tell the secretary ; accord- 
ingly he did ; and the secretary, after speaking himself, and having 
it from King WilHam's own mouth, appointed me a time to meet 
him at home ; and did with the Marquis of Winchester, and told 
me I was as free as ever ; and as he doubted not my prudence 
about my quiet living, for he assured me I should not be molested, 
or injured in any of my affairs, at least while he held that post. 
The secretary is my old friend, and one I served after the D. of 
Monmouth and Lord Russell's business ; I carried him in my 
coach to Windsor, and presented him to King James ; and when 
the Revolution came, he bought my four horses that carried us. 
It was about three or four months before the Revolution. The 
lords spoke the 25th of November, and he discharged me on the 
30th. 

" From the secretary I went to our meeting, at the Bull and 
Mouth ; thence to visit the sanctuary of my solitude ; and after 
that to see my poor wife and children ; the eldest being with me 
all this while. My wife is yet weakly ; but I am not without 
hopes of her recovery, who is of the best of wives and women. 

" Your real friend, 

" William Penn." 

A private liberation was not entirely satisfactory and 
the injured man pleaded for a full acquittal. This was 
granted. He came before the Council, made a full 
defence and was formally acquitted. By 1693, no doubt, 
William felt secure on the throne. 

But he only regained liberty to meet another affliction, 
the death of his wife. She had long been failing, and the 
sufferings of her husband, and the dishonour done to 
him, had weighed heavily upon her. She died on 
February 23rd, 1693-4. She has left a lovely name 
behind her for goodness and charm : and she was the 
centre of her husband's love and home. W^e have not 
much of her writing left, except a letter or two to Margaret 
Fox, breathing the Quaker atmosphere of the time. She 
died at fifty, and three of her children died in infancy. 



230 WILLIAM PENN 

She had never been robust ; even in her childhood her 
mother lived in the country on her account. Shortly before 
her birth her mother had made a painful and dangerous 
journey over flooded fords by night, to the deathbed of 
her husband who was laid low with fever at Arundel 
Castle. Of the children left to her, Springett was already' 
weakening in slow consumption. William Penn wrote an 
account of her last days and collected, as has been the 
wont of the religious, her last devout sayings. He 
concludes thus : 

" About an hour after, causing all to withdraw, we were half 
an hour together, in which we took our last leave, sajdng all that 
was fit upon that solemn occasion. She continued sensible, and 
did eat something about an hour before her departure, at which 
time our children and most of our family were present. She 
quietly expired in my arms, her head upon my bosom, with a 
sensible and devout resignation of her soul to Almighty God. 
I hope I may say she was a public as well as a private loss : for 
she was not only an excellent wife and mother, but an entire and 
constant friend, of a more than common capacity, and greater 
modesty and humility ; yet most equal, and undaunted in danger ; 
religious, as well as ingenious, without affectation ; an easy 
mistress and good neighbour, especially to the poor ; neither 
lavish nor penurious ; but an example of industry, as well as of 
other virtues : therefore, our great loss, though her eternal gain." 

Agnes Strickland, in her " Lives of the Queens of 
England," tells a curious story to the effect that each year, 
Madam Penn was in the habit of visiting the exiled Queen 
Maria Beatrice d'Este and her husband, at S. Germains, 
and taking her a number of little presents from personal 
friends in England, maintaining her political integrity 
the while by always declaring that the revolution was 
necessary. The authority given for this is Kennersley's 
" Life of Penn," 1740, a book I have never heard of, nor is 
it in Joseph Smith's Catalogue. But the story may easily 
be true, and is repeated, without being vouched for, by 
Janney (p. 388). So far as we know such visits of Guli 



THE BATTLE OF LIFE 231 

Penn's were never made any ground of suspicion against 
her husband. And if they were paid there were strong 
reasons for not letting them be generally known. 

The summer of 1694 was the close of an epoch in our 
Friend's life — a six years' time of persecution and suffer- 
ing. He was again a free man with reputation restored, 
and influence and standing with it. His province was 
again under his government, and entering upon a period 
free from faction. Criticism of his political activities 
we do not hear of at this time among Friends. Not that 
his life was prosperous even now. He was short of 
money and a widower with a delicate son and two 
younger children to look after. For some time after 
Guli's death at the end of February, he was at home 
looking after the children and making new domestic 
arrangements. 

During this time the publication, after drastic editing 
by Thomas Ellwood and others, of the Journal of 
George Fox was going forward ; and who but William 
Penn should be asked to write a preface to it ? The 
duty was taken in hand with zeal, and the preface grew 
to the dimensions of a book, afterwards published 
separately under the title of The Rise and Progress of 
the People called Quakers. It was another of the 
author's standard and popular books ; it ran to eighteen 
editions in England, Ireland and America, and was' 
translated into four foreign languages. The last edition 
in England was in 1834 and in Philadelphia in 1855. 

It is a thoroughly well-written book. It begins with 
the perfect condition of man in Eden, then sin, the Law 
of Moses, the prophets and the Christian Gospel, its 
corruption under Constantine, the rise of sects, Protes- 
tants, Baptists, Seekers, Ranters, and then, with fulness, 
an account of the Society of Friends, its central principle 
of the Light of Christ Within, and all that followed 
from it in principles and practice and church order ; 
some history of the first age of Quakerism, and some 



232 WILLIAM PENN 

hortatory matter. Its character-sketch of George Fox 
is the most valuable passage in the book, and is indeed 
our best outside testimony to the kind of man he was. 
Parts of it must be quoted here. 

" He was a Man that God endued with a Clear and Wonderful 
Depth ; a Discerner of others' Spirits, and very much a Master 
of his own. And tho' that Side of his Understanding which lay 
next to the World, and especially the Expression of it, might 
sound Uncouth and Unfashionable to nice Ears, his Matter was 
nevertheless very profound ; and would not only bear to be 
often consider'd, but the more it was so, the more Weighty 
and Instructing it appear'd. And as Abruptly and Brokenly, 
as sometimes his Sentences would seem to fall from him, about 
Divine Things, it is well known they were often as Texts to many 
fairer Declarations. And indeed, it shewed, beyond all Contra- 
diction, that God sent him ; in that no Art or Parts had any share 
in the Matter or Manner of his Ministry ; and that so many great 
Excellent and Necessary Truths, as he came forth to Preach to 
Mankind, had therefore nothing of Man's Wit or Wisdom to 
recommend them. So that as to Man he was an Original, being 
no Man's Copy. And his Ministry and Writings shew they are 
from one that was not Taught of Man, nor had Learned what he 
said by Study. Nor were they Notional or Speculative, but 
sensible and practical Truths, tending to Conversion and Re- 
generation, and the setting up of the Kingdom of God in the 
Hearts of Men ; and the Way of it was his Work. So that I have 
many Times been overcome in my self, and been made to say, 
with m)^ Lord and Master, upon the hke Occasion, I thank thee, 
O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that thou hast hid these 
things from the Wise and Prudent of this World, and revealed 
them to Babes. For many Times hath my Soul bowed in an 
Humble Thankfulness to the Lord that he did not choose any of 
the Wise and Learned of this World to be the first Messengers 
in our Age of his blessed Truth to Men ; but that he took one 
that was not of High Degree, or Elegant Speech, or Learned 
after the Way of this World, that his Message and Work he 
sent him to do might come with less Suspicion, or Jealousy of 
Human Wisdom and Interest, and with more Force and Clear- 
ness upon the Consciences of those that sincerely sought the Way 



THE BATTLE OF LIFE 233 

of Truth in the Love of it. I say, beholding with the Eye of my 
Mind, which the God of Heaven had opened in me, the Marks of 
God's Finger and Hand visibly, in this Testimony, from the 
Clearness of the Principle, the Power and Efficacy of it, in the 
Exemplary Sobriety, Plainness, Zeal, Steadiness, Humility, 
Gravity, Punctuality, Charity, and circumspect Care in the 
Government of Church Affairs, which shined in his and their 
Life and Testimony that God employ 'd in this Work, it greatly 
confirmed me that it was of God, and engaged my Soul in a deep 
Love, Fear, Reverence and Thankfulness for his Love and Mercy 
therein to Mankind ; In which Mind I remain, and shall, I hope, 
through the Lord's Strength, to the End of My Days." 

At this time was first published the account of Penn's 
travels in Holland and Germany in 1677 ; which had lain 
in privacy ever since. We may perhaps take it as a 
sign that he had at this time a public who bought his 
books. 

He was much struck by a book he read in these 
months at home, a " Harmony of the Old and New 
Testaments," by a Friend named John Tomkins. It roused 
his interest in the Jews, whom he, like others, regarded as 
suffering for having caused the death of Jesus. He wrote 
them an affectionate appeal, and an argument why they 
should embrace Christianity. It was called a Visitation 
to the Jews, and was printed as an Appendix to Tomkins's 
book. 

He was now able to resume what we may regard as 
his normal way of life as a Quaker minister of the Gospel. 
Three years in the " sanctuary of his solitude " had 
doubtless been used to fill his mind and soul with fresh 
thought and power. He returned refreshed to travel in 
the ministry through the western counties, then the 
centre of the woollen manufacture. Crowds attended his 
meetings everywhere, for he must have been one of the 
most famous men in England ; and the Governor of 
Pennsylvania, the friend of King James, the well known 
author, going round preaching Quakerism, that strange 



234 WILLIAM PENN 

revolutionary doctrine, was a man not to be missed when 
he came to one's quiet town. A volume of his sermons 
given in London Meeting Houses and taken down in 
shorthand, was published — which implies a certain public 
interest. He travelled through Dorset, Somerset, 
Gloucestershire and Devon. There were very large 
meetings at Bristol. At Somerton the market house, 
though large, was not large enough, and the meeting was 
held in the fields. The mayors of towns " for the respect 
they had to him " generally granted the use of the Town 
Hall. He was away from home over four months. 

At the beginning of 1695 we find Penn acting for the 
Society in presenting a petition to be allowed to afhrm 
in lieu of taking an oath. He was able to plead con- 
vincingly as to Friends' veracity ; but as few wished to 
favour Quakers, the appeal, then and long after, fell 
upon deaf ears. 

He then returned to travelling in the ministry. At 
Melksham, in Wilts, an open air dispute was held between 
John Plympton, a Baptist, and John Clark, a Quaker, on 
five subjects — the Universality of Grace, Baptism, the 
Lord's Supper, Perfection, and the Resurrection. With 
such a comprehensive programme one is not surprised 
that the debate lasted all day. Joseph Besse's Quaker 
version is that though the people were against the Baptist 
" he continued to cavil on and would not be silenced." 
At length, evening coming on, William Penn rose up, and 
in the words of a spectator, " breaking hke a thunderstorm 
over his head in testimony to the people," who were 
numerous, concluded the dispute.* Besse tells us that he 
concluded the Meeting with prayer. He had an adven- 
ture at Wells, whence an invitation had reached him, 
though there were no Friends there. Leave had to be 
asked from the Bishop, who kindly sanctioned the meeting. 
Friends engaged the market hall ; but next day, when the time 
came they were kept out, "for some of the opposition 

* Clarkson, ii., p. 152. 



THE BATTLE OF LIFE 235 

party in the town who had been drinking CoL Berkley's 
election, all the day before, had turned the clerk of the 
market against them." They therefore, with the 
consent of the friendly Bishop, and of the landlord, 
used the Crown Inn, where they were staying, which had 
a convenient balcony overlooking the market place. 
Meantime the people had broken in to the Market Hall, 
and Friends had to invite them out into the market place, 
to the number of two or three thousand. While Penn was 
preaching from the balcony, a constable pressed through 
the crowd, into the Inn, up to the large room where 
Friends were, arrested the preacher on the balcony, and 
took him to the magistrates. There the licence from the 
Bishop confounded the blundering authorities, and Penn 
was released with an apology. Friends hired a house of 
their own and held several meetings there. Such was 
a disturbance which, long ago, ruffled the serenity of 
that calm little cathedral town. It shows how great was 
the value of the Toleration Act, and how far ahead it was 
of magisterial opinion in some places. 

Penn sta3^ed some time in Bristol, a stay explicable 
a page or two further on, then, by way of London, home 
to Worminghurst, to nurse his eldest boy, Springett. 
The care of the motherless invalid was an absorbing 
task in these days. He was a lad of noble parts and of a 
spiritual nature like his parents. He lingered under slow 
consumption in increasing weakness till February, 
1696-7, and died in his father's arms at the age of twenty. 

Of him the bereaved father wrote : 

" My very dear child and eldest son, Springett Penn, did from 
his childhood manifest a disposition to goodness, and gave me 
hope of a more than ordinary capacity ; and time satisfied 
me in both respects. For, besides a good share of learning and 
mathematical knowledge, he showed a judgment in the use and 
application of it much above his years. He had the seeds of many 
good qualities rising in him, that made him beloved and conse- 
quently lamented ; but especially his humility, plainness and 



236 WILLIAM PENN 

truth, with a tenderness and softness of nature, which if I may say 
it, were an improvement upon his other good quahties. . . . 
" Two or three days before his departure he called his brother 
to him, and looking awfully upon him, said, ' Be a good boy, and 
know that there is a God, a great and mighty God, who is a 
rewarder of the righteous, and so he is of the wicked, but their 
rewards are not the same. Have a care of idle people and idle 
company, and love good company and good Friends, and the 
Lord will bless thee. I have seen good things for thee since my 
sickness, if thou dost but fear the Lord ; and if I should not 
live (though the Lord is all-sufificient), remember what I say to 
thee when I am dead and gone. Poor child, the Lord bless thee ! 
Come and kiss me ! ' which melted us all into great tenderness, 
but his brother more particularly." 

A young fellow of the same spiritual type in our time 
would not leave dying sa5dngs like this, for his friends to 
record. He would be shy of doing so — it would feel 
silly and hypocritical. But Springett spoke his natural 
thoughts in the language natural to him. Here we see, 
on a small scale, but definitely, the great distinction 
between William Penn and thyself, gentle reader: between 
the earnest men of the seventeenth century, who created 
Quakerism out of a mighty religious consciousness, and 
the quieter faith, or hesitating conclusions, of us their 
successors, and of our like-minded contemporaries. We 
have lost very greatly in zeal and power ; but it is no use 
trying to go back. May it be ours to build up out of the 
data of the modern world a consciousness of an Indwelling 
Spirit so moving and mighty that in its strength we too 
may have our heroes of faith. 

William, the only son left, had none of the gifts and 
qualities of his father, who was after all not typical of the 
ordinary stock of the Penns. Religion meant nothing to 
him, but the pleasures of the world much ; an adventurous, 
high spirited youth. Sprinqett's dying exhortation may 
have had some sad foresight in it. His dissipations, his 
debts, and his one adventure into the sober life of 



THE BATTLE OF LIFE 237 

Philadelphia, were a great burden on his father's hopes. 
For to him Pennsylvania would descend. 

Fears of this kind would, at any rate, not discourage 
William Penn in contemplating a second marriage. 
That age was brief in its record of such matters ; and we 
are told that on March 5th, 1655-6, two years from the 
death of his first wife, and two weeks before the death of 
Springett, William Penn was married at Bristol to Hannah 
Callowhill, the daughter of Thomas Callowhill, and grand- 
daughter of Dennis Hollister, both leading merchants and 
Friends of Bristol. She was just under thirty-two. 
There are streets in Bristol which bear Pennsylvanian 
names, and are built on land which belonged to her family. 
Second marriages rarely escape criticism, and this did 
not. But, speaking in general terms, one can see the 
need which a widower aged fifty-one, with two young 
children, and constant public calls from home, must 
have felt for some one to mother his children, apart 
from the central personal attachment. 

He was, however, as warm and whole hearted in love 
as in other affairs. Ten of his letters during courtship 
have been preserved by the Pennsylvania Historical 
Society, and on them Howard M. Jenkins comments : — * 

" The letters preserved (of course by Hannah Callowhill) are 
some ten in number ; one or two, though addressed on the outside 
to her father, appear to be intended for her. They convey many 
ardent representations of regard, and earnestly urge her not to 
delay the marriage. Some passages suggest the thought that the 
wooer was more in love than the lady, but we may reflect that he 
was a fluent letter-writer. In one letter he says, ' This is my 
eighth letter to thy fourth, since I saw thee.' A few days later, 
' This is my tenth letter to thy fourth, which is a disproportion 
I might begin a Httle to reproach thee for, but I do it so gently, 
and with so much affection that I hope it will prevail with thee 
to mend thy pace.' One or two letters at the close of the series 
just before the marriage, discuss details of house-keeping, the 
style and furnishing of a carriage, etc." 

* " Family of William Penn," p. 68n. 



238 WILLIAM PENN 

All accounts represent Hannah Penn as an excellent 
and capable woman, much liked in Pennsylvania, who 
developed remarkable business gifts as need arose. The 
marriage resulted in a family of six young children, with 
corresponding expense. It also had far-reaching con- 
sequences for Pennsylvania. Hannah and her daughter- 
in-law Letitia did not wish to banish themselves from 
England to settle permanently on the Delaware as the 
Founder had always hoped to do. 

William Penn was much at home with his newly- 
married wife during 1696, and, as always happened in 
his periods of outward quietness, he went on with his 
tireless Quaker propaganda, and wrote another book, 
not different in subject or manner from others which had 
gone before it, but written as a short and popular work, 
which might be distributed. It was called (in short titled 
Primitive Christianity Revived. It was a treatise on the 
Indwelling Light of Christ, and the developments of that 
doctrine. It occupies twenty-one folio pages, closely 
printed. It was reprinted in England, in seven editions, 
till about 1800 ; and in Philadelphia half a century later, 
and translated into Welsh and into German about the 
time it ceased to be reprinted in England. It was sold 
bound for a shilling, in a catalogue of 1722. 

A more directly controversial task came to him in 
consequence of the actions of George Keith, who came 
back to London, gathered a cone^regation in Turner's Hall, 
Philpot Lane, under the name of Christian Quakers, and con- 
stantly challenged Friends to dispute with him. So finally 
William Penn wrote a book called More Work for George 
Keith, in which he opposed to the present teaching, George 
Keith's own defences of the very Quaker positions he now 
attacked, copying them from the Hicks and Kiffin con- 
troversies of 1674 ; the " more work " being the task of 
replying to himself. The preface gave a description of 
Keith's restless and quarrelsome spirit. For some reason 
Joseph Besse did not include this among Penn's Collected 




"Place" Porikait ok IIann/.h Pi:nn. 
(Si'c page 330.; 



I 



i 



THE BATTLE OF LIFE 239 

Works, though he warmly approved of it. Perhaps he 
regarded it, as it was, of ephemeral interest. The Rev. 
George Keith was employed by the Church as agent for 
the " Propagation Society, " a disputatious business for 
which he was fitted. He died as Rector of Edburton, in 
Sussex, in 1716. The titles of his pubHshed books, 
tracts and sermons occupy twenty-four pages in Joseph 
Smith's catalogue. After this Penn wrote nothing for 
publication for two years ; indeed the harvest of his life's 
literary output was now nearly reaped. 

At this time Peter the Great, Tsar of Muscovy, was 
serving his apprenticeship to his business as an Emperor, 
by learning shipbuilding in the Royal Dock at Deptford, 
as a common workman. He took his times of relaxation 
at a house " at the bottom of York Buildings, where 
Prince Menzikoff attended him, and whence he issued 
on social visits." 

Friends have always had a certain drawing towards 
interviews with monarchs for their good. This was 
not in those days snobbishness nor toadyism, as might be 
supposed. Their courageous interviews, with a view to 
preach the gospel, would never have been ventured upon 
by people very much impressed by rank, or valuing Royal 
receptions as feathers in their caps. The impersonal 
character of these embassies for Christ gave them their 
place and their value. It was well worth while to influence 
these men in power, and a King was really nobody to be 
afraid of ; the same spirit was in him and us. So Thomas 
Story and Gilbert Molleson obtained access to the young 
Tsar. He knew no English, only Russian and German, 
so they had to speak through an interpreter — they 
presented copies of Barclay's Apology in Latin ; but found 
that that was no use either. The Tsar asked them why 
they kept on their hats instead of honouring monarchs 
in the usual way — a natural first question for a monarch — 
and then what use they would be to any kingdom seeing 
they could not bear arms — a natural second question. 



240 WILLIAM PENN 

Thomas Story gave such answer as one might expect. 
WilHam Penn, who could speak German fluently, along 
with George Whitehead and three other Friends, now 
went to see the Tsar at Deptford, and gave him some 
Friends' books in German. The ease of direct talk with a 
courtly and distinguished Englishman made this con- 
versation more fruitful than the previous one, and led to 
the Tsar attending meeting at Deptford not unfrequently, 
standing up and sitting down decorously with Friends. 
Penn had two interviews altogether, as appears from a 
letter of exhortation he wrote to Peter in September of 
the following year, 1698. The impression the Society 
made was note vanescent, for fifteen years afterwards, 
in 1712, when at Frederickstadt in Holstein, with an army, 
he enquired whether there were any Quakers there ; 
and finding that there were, he cleared his soldiers out 
of the Meeting House where they were billeted, and asked 
that a Friends' Meeting might be appointed, which was 
attended by the Tsar and his train of Generals and Grand 
Dukes. Philip Defair preached, and Peter gave a 
summary of it to his suite, and said that " whosoever 
would live according to that doctrine would be happy."* 
I fear, however, that if Peter the Great had joined 
Friends he would have had to be disowned several times 
over ! 

This year, 1697, a bill against blasphemy was before 
the House of Lords. Under this specious title was hidden 
an attempt to punish all who denied the Doctrine of the 
three Persons of the Trinity. Penn wrote a cautionary 
letter, which he circulated among the Peers, and the bill 
was dropped. 

The same year he removed from Worminghurst, his 
home for most of his former married life, to Bristol, where 
lived all the family of Hannah, and we must regard him 
now for a while as a Bristol Friend when he was at 
home. 

♦ Thomas Story's Journal is the authority for much of this narrative. 




"Place" Portrait ok William Penn. 
(See page 330.) 



THE BATTLE OF LIFE 241 

The year 1698 was not so crowded with events as had 
been many of its predecessors, but in the lives of most men 
it would have been considered an exciting and eventful 
period. It was mainly occupied with a ministerial visit 
to Ireland. He had not seen Friends there, nor his 
Shangarry tenants, for thirty years. With him went 
Thomas Story and John Everott, ministers under the 
same concern. All we know of the visit comes from 
the Journal of Thomas Story, where it is told at length. 
They attended the half yearly meeting at Dublin, which 
the presence of William Penn caused " to be attended by 
people of all ranks and professions." We read that he 
was " ever furnished by the Truth with matter fully to 
answer their expectations." The Dean of Derry was 
there, and was asked by his Bishop whether he had heard 
anything but blasphemy and nonsense, and whether he 
took off his hat in time of prayer. He replied that " he 
heard no blasphemy nor nonsense, but the everlasting 
truth, and did not only take off his hat at prayer, but his 
heart said Amen to what he had heard." Penn's old 
opponent from Melksham, John Plympton the Baptist, 
was in Dublin circulating a pamphlet A Quaker no 
Christian, on the usual lines, representing that what 
Friends omitted was vital to correct theology. Penn 
replied with a pamphlet The Quaker a Christian, and 
a short explanatory tract called Gospel Truths, signed by 
himself, Thomas Story, Anthony Sharp the leading 
Dublin Friend, and George Rook. He reprinted also 
the eighth and ninth chapters of Primitive Christianity 
Revived. Altogether the Protestant community in 
Dublin must have had much to consider, in speech and 
writing, of Quaker truth. These defensive tracts were 
not outpourings of the new wine of Quaker conviction 
on which the Society had been nourished at its birth 
forty years before; they were careful statements intended 
to show that after all Friends had not departed from 
orthodox Christianity. This tract, Gospel Truths, includes 

16 



242 WILLIAM PENN 

a belief in hell, in propitiation, in release from guilt by 
the death of Christ, and in the passage, i John v. 7, 
about the three that bear record in Heaven, now known 
to be spurious. The reprinted chapters of Primitive 
Christianity Revived elaborate the same theological points. 
These occur among much besides that was definitely 
characteristic of the Quaker reformation, and the above 
doctrines are treated in a more spiritual, one may say in 
a more sensible and more moral way, than was current, 
both then and since. That was why all this fire of 
controversy from Baptists and Bishops and from George 
Keith was directed against them. 

In Dublin he called on the Lords Justices and the chief 
ministers on his old errand of securing favour and pro- 
tection to Friends. Leaving Dublin, he held meetings 
at Lambstown and Wexford ; and was passing on to an 
appointed meeting at Waterford when an incident 
occurred worth telling for the light it throws on Ireland 
under the Peace of Limerick. The (Protestants Irish 
ParUament had passed a bill by which no Papist might 
keep a horse worth more than five guineas, and any 
Protestant might stop a Papist in the street, and take 
away his horse on paying live guineas in presence of the 
nearest magistrate. The Papist was also punished for 
having or even riding a horse worth more than this trifling 
price. In this way the officers of the army were accus- 
tomed to get good horses at the price of bad ones. As the 
Quaker company rode into Ross on their excellent mounts 
two young officers saw their chance. For the law counted 
all Papists who refused the oath of allegiance. Penn and 
his Friends went in to dinner at the Inn, ordering their 
horses to be ferried over while they dined. But Lieut. 
Wallis and Cornet Montgomery had obtained the usual 
warrant, and taken the best horses, the others having 
already crossed. Dinner over, William Penn, his son and 
friends approached the ferry boat, but half a dozen 
dragoons jumped in and put the boat off in a rude way. 



THE BATTLE OF LIFE 243 

Penn, not knowing of the deeds of these gentry, reproached 
their oflicers as gentlemen for allowing such conduct. 
Then the horse-lifting came out. Penn hired another 
boat and hurried off to his meeting, leaving his friends 
to recover the horses. He complained to the Lords 
Justices from Waterford, and the young officers were 
confined to their rooms, whence they begged the 
Governor of Waterford to intercede with William Penn 
on their behalf ; and by request of the unexpectedly 
formidable Quaker they were pardoned. 

William Penn just arrived at Meeting in time ; one 
fears he must have been somewhat flurried, and not in the 
usual gathered spirit. After a time of silence he spoke 
to a great multitude who were present. The Bishop 
and several of his clergy contrived to hear him from 
a garden outside. Meetings followed at Clonmel, 
Youghal, Cork and Bandon. He gave five days to visit- 
ing his two estates, and returned to Cork, where he held 
many crowded meetings. It was the harvest time of 
much earlier sowing in tears. At one meeting 

" The Lord was mightily with him on that day, clothing 
him with majesty, holy zeal, and divine wisdom, to the great 
satisfaction of Friends there, and satisfaction and applause of the 
people." 

He had friendly conference with the Bishop of Cork, and 
gave him a copy of Gospel Truths. He went on and held 
meetings at Charleville, Limerick and Birr, Mountmellick, 
Edenderry and Lurgan and so back to Dublin. On a 
second journey into the country he came to Cashel on an 
ordinary meeting day, but was prevented by the crowd 
from getting in, so sat down in an adjoining room, and 
wrote a few letters. When a Friend, John Vaughton, 
was speaking, the Mayor with constables appeared near 
the door by direction of the Bishop and ordered the 
meeting to separate. John Vaughton claimed the privi- 
leges of the Toleration Act, and a special permit obtained 



244 WILLIAM PENN 

before they left London, from the King. Thomas Story 
supported this ; but the Mayor pressed forward through 
the throng. WilHam Penn, from the adjoining room, 
sent him a message to come to him ; and the Mayor 
obeyed. He was treated with courtesy and sent to the 
Bishop to ask for his patience till after meeting, when 
Penn would call upon him. Friends afterwards waited on 
the Bishop. He confessed at once, that going to his 
church to preach that morning he had found only the 
mayor, churchwardens and constables ; the congrega- 
tion having gone to hear the Friends, which he confessed 
had made him angry, and he had sent the mayor to collect 
the congregation. Thus did the Irishman smooth matters 
down politely. Nevertheless, fearing consequences, he 
wrote a letter to the Earl of Galway and other Lords 
Justices stating that " Mr. Penn and the Quakers had 
gathered together such a vast multitude, and so many 
armed Papists, that it struck a terror into him and the 
town." This letter the Earl afterwards showed to 
William Penn ; they must have had a good laugh over 
it. After further travelling the party left for England, 
having spent some three months in Ireland. 

On embarking Penn received a letter from the Bishop 
of Cork, criticising Gospel Truths. He commended Penn's 
acceptance of Christ as our propitiation and redeemer 
from the guilt of sin. " Tis the first time I have heard of 
it among you." He agreed also with the article on sub- 
mission to Government. As to the rest of the articles, 
there was not enough in them to warrant Friends calling 
themselves Christians. As soon as he got home, William 
Penn devoted five weeks to writing a reply to the Bishop. 
This was the last of his many books explanatory of 
Quakerism. 

As it seemed right to give a fairly full account of the 
impact of Quakerism on popular theology, in The Sandy 
Foundation Shaken, so it may be right to explain with 
some care this vindication of Christian orthodoxy when 



THE BATTLE OF LIFE 245 

Quaker thought had become established. There is no 
straight contradiction between the consuming lire of 
reforming youth, and the more pacific meditations of the 
older man. But there is a clear difference of emphasis, 
as between the iconoclast and the conciliator. To know 
what the meaning and spirit of Quakerism is we must 
turn to the earlier work ; to know just how far William 
Penn and his Friends still assimilated current beliefs, 
we can turn to this controversy with the Bishop of Cork. 
It does not of course follow that Penn's exact outfit of 
beliefs is the permanent boundary of the tenets of 
Quakerism. It has no such claim. These positions 
merely mark how much of the forest the Quaker fire 
had left standing at that epoch : they show how far the 
Quaker analysis had proceeded. It is the analysis itself, 
the touchstone of the Spirit, that constitutes the Quaker 
method. 

The Bishop was rather unreasonable. He attacked 
the mere leaflet Gospel Truths with its eleven short para- 
graphs, because it did not happen to say that God was 
the creator and maintainer of the universe, and did 
not allude to the Resurrection or the Ascension. One 
cannot really expect a full account of the universe on a 
sheet of note paper. But the Bishop's idea was 
" Articles." He objected that the doctrine of the 
Trinity was not worked ouc, that the virgin birth was not 
stated, that the doctrine of the Inward Christ was a 
denial of the Ascension, and of Christ sitting now on the 
right hand of the throne. The Last Judgment was not 
mentioned, nor any end of the world at all hinted at, nor 
any acceptance of the " One Church," nor of the 
judgment of sinners. He counted very little of William 
Penn's acceptance of " hell," which might only mean 
" the grave," a very poor substitute. This needed work- 
ing out in precise detail. A belief in the " resurrection 
of the flesh" was necessary to salvation; without it 
" all other points of faith are in vain." 



246 WILLIAM PENN 

Turning to positive criticism he said that neither 
Friends nor any one else knew what they meant by the 
light of Christ within man. He denied that worship can 
be sufficient if only inward and spiritual, but that it 
must be bodily and congregational also, to be Christian. 
To hear the plain language, particularly in the form 
" thee doest " would " almost make a man's stomach 
turn." 

He then defends Baptism and the Supper by the 
usual texts, making however a bad slip when he says 
that " Do this in remembrance of me " occurs four times 
in the New Testament. It occurs in i Cor. xi. 24, and 
is copied thence only by Luke. He says he writes in 
much compassion, believing Friends to be a harmless, 
well-meaning people, but under strong delusions. The 
delusion causing all the trouble is the authority of the 
Inward Light. It must be wrong because it denied 
Scripture. The Scriptural argument in favour of the 
ordinances had not as then vanished away under modern 
criticism, and the early Friends had no good answer on 
the literal method. He finally accuses Friends of pre- 
tending mortification and renouncing the world, " while 
there are no sort of men alive that more eagerly pursue 
it, nor have more effectual, wily and secret ways of getting : 
wealth than yourselves." He thinks Friends are trying to 
be " a party considerable " such as would compel the 
Government to give them peculiar privileges. He thinks 
there is conceit in the plain dress, " for it is plain not a few 
of your peoples' clothes, as to materials, are more costly 
than many of ours." It is very early to find these familiar 
attacks on Friends' business capacity and nice broadcloth. 

So far the shocked and puzzled Bishop. He was as 
honest and kindly an opponent as this history has yet 
encountered in this century of religious hatreds. But is 
there any other profession so ignorant of its subject as 
these clergy ? 

He was, further, irrelevant and unjust ; accusing 



THE BATTLE OF LIFE 247 

Friends of ignoring or denying much that they beheved. 
There was plenty to reply to, and through twenty-eight folio 
pages William Penn took the Bishop to pieces, very 
small pieces, no word or phrase omitted. I cannot recom- 
mend his Defence as sensational reading. Nevertheless, 
it is cogent and forcible enough ; but its blows are delivered 
in a world now far away, and one dimly hears their thud. 
The book was alive in its time, and did a noble and famous 
service. But it uses too many words. As to Justifica- 
tion, William Penn has to divide it into two processes, 
one achieved by Christ, under which God can justly forgive 
us ; and one by ourselves, entering with cleanness of 
heart and honest purpose into a holy life. Both of these 
are, in his view, essential — but the latter particularly 
had been too much overlooked. Perhaps the fullest and 
most forcible passage, out of many on this point, is 
Chapter VI IL of Primitive Christianity Revived* We need 
not follow the argument on the other subjects. At the 
end there is not much left of the Bishop's church defences ; 
but a Gospel propounded, large, wide as humanity, and 
conceived, (as Friends put it), in a universal spirit. 

William Penn continued to live in Bristol in the winter 
of 1698-9 ; and there we find him, in conjunction with 
Benjamin Coale, producing one more controversial book, 
A Testimony to the Truth of God, etc. It was written 
against " envious apostates and mercenary adversaries." 
Penn came here into controversy with the famous 
Francis Bugg, the most persistent and bitter adversary 
early Quakerism ever had. He was a Friend for twenty- 
five years, from 1659 to 1684, and suffered imprisonment 
in Ely gaol. Then he sympathised with the Story, 
Wilkinson, Rogers revolt against George Fox and the 
other leaders, in the name of liberty and spontaneity. 
He went on writing fierce books against Friends till he 
was eighty-three, in the year 1724. The titles of these 
fill fifteen pages in Joseph Smith's Catalogue, and they 

* Collected V^orks, Vol. II., pp. 867-8. 



248 WILLIAM PENN 

cannot be beaten for abuse and abusive pictures. He calls 
himself "a servant of the Church" in his later books. 
It appears that the Bishop of Norwich had given him a 
letter to his clergy, asking them to make collections for 
the necessities of this " beggarly apostate," as Penn terms 
him. Only by some such support from the enemies of 
Quakerism would, one would think, such a torrent of 
attack be possible. It ran to seventy-nine books or 
pamphlets. The Norfolk clergy had subscribed their 
names to " A Relation," an attack on Quakerism which 
Francis Bugg would seem to have carried round with 
him on his begging errand, to show how useful he was. 
Penn's reply covers the same ground as his Defence against 
the Bishop of Cork, but more briefly. 

In 1699, there was a dispute at West Dereham in 
Norfolk between some clergy and Friends, which led the 
clergy, apparently dissatisfied with the result, to approach 
the King and Parliament with an attack " painting the 
Quakers as black as their own robes," and hoping to have 
the Toleration Act repealed so far as Quakers were con- 
cerned. William Penn published a few paragraphs of 
reply. The fires of ecclesiastical persecution were clearly 
smouldering still below the surface in many vicarages. 



CHAPTER XX 

In Pennsylvania Again 
1699-1701 

This visit to Pennsylvania was intended to be more than 
a visit, indeed Penn always to the end looked to 
America as his permanent home. It would have been 
well for him and for the colony if that had been possible. 
All his family except his son William, now married and a 
young man about town, went with him. All kinds of 
goods likely to be needed in the establishment of a home 
in the forest were put on board. The voyage would be, 
of course, as all voyages were then, something of an 
adventure. Before his first voyage in 1682, it may be 
remembered, he had written a remarkably beautiful 
letter to his wife and children. He now composed what 
ran to a short treatise on the conduct of life in 
the form of advice to his children. It was not 
issued to the public till 1726, some years after the writer's 
death. It was called Fruits of a Father s Love, and 
described as " written occasionally many years ago." 
Sir John Rodes of Balber or Barlborough Hall, in Derby- 
shire, brought it out. Joseph Besse, however, prints it as 
written in 1699, though he does not, as one might expect, 
mention it in his biographical notes. Clarkson says it was 
written at this time, and Janney follows him. 

Penn may have hoped that though his son William 
would not be influenced by his words, he might some day 
pay heed to his written advice ; and the young ones 

249 



250 WILLIAM PENN 

were still little children, too young to understand. He 
also says that if he had grandchildren and great-grand- 
children, he wrote for them also. 

The first chapter deals with the roots of character and 
motive, with the light and grace of Christ within, and 
with faithfulness to a living Quakerism : a simple 
practical exposition of the Light of Christ within and its 
bearing on conduct. 

The second chapter enters into detail, and is more 
quotable. The children arc advised each morning and 
evening to " retire their minds into a pure silence, and to 
read a chapter in the Bible " — they are not advised to 
read many books, as that interferes with meditation. 
Careful observation of people is the best guide to action 
and judgment, and there are many senseless scholars. 
He advises keeping a commonplace book, to record 
" openings " that occur, which come and go of themselves, 
and may be lost by carelessness. 

Some of the advice, I cannot but think, he gave because 
he had done the opposite himself : 

" In conversation mark well what others say or do, and hide 
your own mind, at least till last ; and then open it as sparingly 
as the matter will let you. In company be sure to have your wits 
about you and your armour on. Speak last and little, but to the 
point. Interrupt none, anticipate none. Brevity and clearness 
is the best." 

The world would be a gruesome place socially, if every- 
body did that. What a horror to be in a company where 
everybody tries to speak last ; it is a race where all but 
one must fail. And what a social sin " armour " may be. 
I don't believe for a moment that William Penn did this 
himself, he was too generous, large-hearted, trustful and 
conversational ; and brevity was not the most obvious 
of his virtues. 

" Learn and teach your children fair writing and the most 
useful parts of mathematics, and some business when young, 
whatever else they are taught." 



IN PENNSYLVANIA AGAIN 251 

This is in flat contradiction to our idea of a liberal 
education. 

" Cast up your income and live on half, if you can on one 
third, reserving the rest for casualties, charities, portions." 

Excellent doubtless, but I fear not capable of universal 
application. 

" Be plain in clothes, furniture and food, but clean, and then 
the coarser the better, the rest is folly and a snare. If it be not 
an evil in itself, it may be accounted a nest for sin to breed in." 

" I have seen the ceiling of a room that cost half as much as 
the house, a folly and sin too." 

He advised them to take care to maintain their family 
bond by visits and correspondence and living as near as 
possible. " And don't be close and hoard up from one 
another, as if you did not descend from one most tender 
father and mother." If a prodigal appears in the family, 
treat him lovingly and try to win him. One remarkable 
passage runs thus : 

" Love silence, even in the mind ; for thoughts are to that, 
as words to the body, troublesome; much speaking, as much 
thinking, spends ; and in many thoughts as well as words, there 
is sin. True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit 
what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment." 

He advised them to keep out of public affairs, and 
meddle not with Government. This would be bad 
advice now : he accompanied it with the exceptional 
case " unless required to do it by the Lord in a testimony 
for his name and truth." This is a large qualification, 
and covered all William Penn's own constant political 
labours. Politics were no doubt a bad business in his 
time. 

There is much good advice on married life and on 
managing a family. 

The third chapter takes up a series of good qualities 
and treats each fully in turn. Humility, meekness, 
patience, mercy, charity, liberality, justice, integrity. 



252 WILLIAM PENN 

gratitude, diligence, frugality, temperance. There is 
naturally a strong likeness all through to the Maxims. 

He concludes with a really wonderful passage on the 
various terms used by philosophers for the Indwelling 
Word with which he began and ended this document.* 

" I have chosen to speak in the Language of the Scriptures ; 
which is that of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth and Wisdom, 
that wanted no Art or Direction of Man to speak by, and express 
itself fitly to Man's Understanding. But yet that blessed 
Principle, the Eternal Word I begun with to you, and which is 
that Light, Spirit, Grace and Truth I have exhorted you to in all 
its Holy Appearances or Manifestations in your selves, by wliich 
all Things were at first made, and Man enlightened to Salvation, 
is Pythagoras's great Light and Salt of Ages, Anaxagoras's 
Divine Mind, Socrates's good Spirit, Timaeus's unbegotten 
Principle, and Author of all Light, Hieron's God in Man, Plato's 
Eternal, Ineffable and Perfect Principle of Truth, Zeno's Maker 
and Father of all, and Plotin's Root of the Soul. Who as they 
thus stiled the Eternal Word, so the Appearance of it in Man 
wanted not very significant Words. A domestick God, or God 
within, says Hieron, Pythagoras, Epictetus and Seneca ; Genius, 
Angel or Guide, say Socrates and Timaeus ; the Light and Spirit 
of God, says Plato ; the Divine Principle in Man, says Plotin ; 
the Divine Power and Reason, the Infallible Immortal Law in the 
Minds of Men, says Philo ; and the Law and Living Rule of the 
Mind, the Interior Guide of the Soul, and everlasting Foundation 
of Virtue, says Plutarch. Of which you may read more in the 
first part of the Christian Quaker, and in the Confutation of 
Atheism, by Dr. Cudworth. There are some of those virtuous 
Gentiles commended by the Apostle, Rom. ii. 13, 14, 15, that 
tho' they had not the Law given to them, as the Jews had, with 
those Instrumental Helps and Advantages, yet, doing by Nature 
the Things contained in the Law, they became a Law unto 
themselves." 

On the ninth of September he sailed from Cowes 
Roads by the Isle of Wight. He took with him cordial 
certificates addressed to Friends in Pennsylvania — from 

♦Works, Vol. i., p. 911. 



IN PENNSYLVANIA AGAIN 253 

the " Second Day's Meeting of Ministering Friends " 
(later the " Morning Meeting ") in London — from the 
Men's Meeting in the City of Bristol, and from his 
own Monthly Meeting at Horsham. No human words 
could be penned more full of reverence and love than these 
minutes. 

From the vessel Penn wrote an Epistle to all Friends 
everywhere in the Old World ; doubtless intended as a 
final message of exhortation. From it I quote : 

" God is not wanting : He that long stood at the door of our 
hearts, under our impenitency in times past, till his locks were 
wet with the dew, and his hair with the drops of the night, till 
we were wakened out of our carnal security, is not weary of 
waiting to be gracious." " Friends we must keep our Tents. 
We must be a retired and pecuHar people and dwell alone. We 
must keep above the world, and clear of the Spirit of it." 

One detects here, so early, what I think has been the 
cardinal error in Quaker tradition, separation from the 
world. We ought to have kept out of evil influences 
without aiming at social isolation. 

Another paragraph of this address sounds a new note — 
the note of reproof to the merely formal Quaker. We are 
but eight years from the Toleration Act, up to which 
time every selfish motive, and the weight of habit in 
most cases, was against formal membership. In George 
Fox's time the body of Friends were always treated as 
all living. But Penn finds it right to say : 

" The condition of some who pretend to follow Christ, yet are 
afar off, affects my spirit ; for they know Httle of these enjoy- 
ments, and hardly eat so much as the crumbs which fall from 
Christ's table, and seem to satisfy themselves with a mere con- 
vincement of the truth, or, at best with a bare confession to it. 
Who taking up with a formal going to meeting, and hearing what 
others have to say of the work and goodness of God in and to them, 
they shun the daily cross of Christ." 

" I must leave you, but I can never forget you ; for my love 
to you has been, even as David's and Jonathan's, above the love 
of women." 



254 WILLIAM PENN 

There were others besides his children to whom his 
heart went out on the eve of the great departure which 
might be without return. The farewell sermon he gave 
to Friends at Westminster Meeting on 6th August, 1699, 
was felt to be an event to be chronicled. Two shorthand 
writers took it down and published it, not under Quaker 
auspices at all, if we may judge from the wording of the 
title pages. An extract from it follows, taken by 
Janney from a reprint in Vol. VII. of The Friend 
(London). A Life of William Penn would be incomplete 
without at least one piece of the vocal ministry which 
occupied so large a share of his life and strength. 

" He that made us knows our frame. He that created us and 
formed and fashioned us after his own image, and gave us powers 
and faculties to glorify and serve him, that we may come to enjoy 
him for ever, requires of no man or woman more than he hath given 
them power or ability to perform. It concerneth us all, therefore, 
to live in the exercise of that Divine gift, and grace and ability 
which our Lord Jesus Christ hath distributed and communicated 
to every member of his body, that we may come to shine as stars 
in the firmament of glory. We should do good in our several 
places and stations, according to our different powers and 
capacities. And as every member is, by the circulation of the 
blood, made useful and beneficial in the natural body, so the 
Divine life and blood of the Son of God circulates through his whole 
mystical body and reaches life to every living member. Here is 
no obstruction through unfaithfulness or inordinate love of the 
world, or any temptation from without us, or corruption from 
within us. Here is a free channel, here is an open passage for life 
and quickening influences from Christ, our glorious Head, in all his 
members. There is in Christ (in whom the fulness of the Godhead 
dwells bodily) a river whose streams make glad the city of God, a 
fountain to supply and refresh the whole generation of the 
righteous that desire to be found in him, (as the apostle speaks,) 
not having their own righteousness, but clothed with the robe 
of his righteousness, which is the garment of salvation." 

The ship Canterhuyy was tossed on the Atlantic for 
nearly three months, and reached Chester on December 



IN PENNSYLVANIA AGAIN 255 

ist : thence it went up the river to Philadelphia. The 
delay on the voyage had had one advantage. The party 
escaped an epidemic of yellow fever which had raged 
in the city during the autumn. 

The Governor brought over with him as his secretary 
a tall and attractive young man named James Logan. 
He was twenty-five years of age, of a Scotch family whose 
estates had been confiscated. He was born at Lurgan 
near Belfast. His father had become a schoolmaster at 
Bristol, and the son taught in his father's school, and after- 
wards traded for a year between Dublin and Bristol. He 
seems to have developed in childhood his very remark- 
able intellectual powers, learning Latin, Greek and Hebrew 
when he was twelve ; and mastering a book on Mathe- 
matics by himself at fifteen. When teaching he learnt 
French and Italian and some Spanish ; he translated 
Cicero on Old Age, one of the famous and beautiful works 
of antiquity. His house in America became the centre 
of the intellectual life of the colony, and one of its links 
with the science and literature of Europe ; and he collected 
and bequeathed to Philadelphia the books which are still 
known as the Loganian Library. 

He was born a Friend, a somewhat rare characteristic 
at that time. He was gracious and dignified in manner, 
and must have been the most important man in the Colony 
for a generation. He was the agent for the Proprietors ; 
and in addition, at various times, mayor of Philadelphia, 
President of the Council, and Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. 
In his later years he did not hold the Quaker view about 
all war ; and he became less and less an active Friend. 
He was, necessarily, frequently at issue with the grasping 
and ungrateful proposals of the Assembly.* He was the 
greatest success among the agents and deputies 
selected by William Penn, He remained in public life 
till 1747, and his house at Stenton, now in the suburbs of 

♦ These adjectives refer to the life-time of the Founder. Under his 
sons more is to be said for the Assembly and less for the Proprietors. 



256 WILLIAM PENN 

Philadelphia, is still standing. His regular correspondence 
with his employer, to whom his character and ability 
were of the highest value, forms the chief authority for 
Pennsylvanian affairs during the rest of the life of William 
Penn : but not an impartial authority by any means. 
American writers are rather more inclined than I am to 
sympathise with the Assembly and its leader David Lloyd, 
the Attorney General, in their attacks on the proprietary 
interest up to 1710. Much is explained if we remember 
that David Lloyd, (I had nearly added George to his 
name), was a Welshman, hot tempered, well able to talk, 
and not specially accurate, that Logan was an Ulster Scot, 
fierce, strong willed, dour and the type of efficiency, and 
that William Penn was an English gentleman, easy-going 
in money matters, and idealistic in his dealings with men. 
The great welcome which William Penn received 
may be gathered from Logan's report in a letter to William 
Penn Junior : 

" The highest terms I could use would hardly give you an idea 
of the expectation and welcome which thy father received from 
the most of the honester party here ; Friends generally concluded 
that after all their troubles and disappointments, this province 
now scarce wanted anything more to render it completely happy. 
The faction that has long contended to overthrow the settled 
constitution of the government received an universal damp. . . 

" Directly from the wharf the governor went to his deputy's, 
paid him a short formal visit, and from thence, with a crowd 
attending, to meeting, it being about three o'clock on First Day 
afternoon, when he spoke on a double account to the people, 
and praying, concluded it. . . . 

" Friends' love to the Governor was great and sincere ; they 
had long mourned for his absence and passionately desired his 
return. He, they firmly believed, would compose all their 
difficulties and repair all that was amiss." 

The two years — for it turned out to be no more — 11 
that William Penn was to spend among the woods of 
the Delaware were like a cool time of refreshment 




■^ r^ 



JAMES LOGAN. 

From Bti engraving in the Library of the Historical 

Society of Philadelphia. 



IN PENNSYLVANIA AGAIN 257 

after the dust and turmoil of his career in England. 
They were, however, full of the details of the landowning 
business. He proceeded to allay the standing quarrel 
between Markham, the Deputy Governor, and Colonel 
Robert Quarry, who represented the English Admiralty, 
and whose duty it was to see that no smuggling and no 
piracy were tolerated. Quarry had made the most, or 
more than the most, of all evil reports, being desirous on 
other grounds of upsetting the Quaker colonial govern- 
ment. But Markham' s answers had apparently been 
considered satisfactory by the Admiralty. 

Quarry stood aloof from calling on the Governor, but 
the latter sent Logan to him " with an inviting compli- 
ment," had a thoroughly intimate talk with him, said 
he believed that wrong proceedings had been allowed, 
but that he would lose no time in putting things right. 
In fact he promptly induced the Assembly to pass 
two bills against piracy and smuggling, and to carry 
them out. 

There was more difficulty with David Lloyd, who was 
for having no peace with Quarry, and so found himself 
up against the Governor. " He knew not how to 
bend, " and his spirit was stirred to such an extent that 
he became the fierce opponent of the Proprietary interest 
for many years, and as a sort of Quaker demagogue 
caused constant friction.* 

Penn attended twenty-two meetings of the Council 
that winter, and did much travelling also among Friends* 
meetings. 

He had had built for himself a beautiful home, suit- 
able to the quiet dignity of a colonial governor. It was 
called Pennsbury Manor, and was on the Delaware in 
Bucks County, some thirty miles above Philadelphia. 
The estate extended about two miles along the river front, 

* Joseph S. Walton has a paper in the Journal of the Friends' His- 
torical Society, Vol. III., pp. 47, 96, sympathetic to David Lloyd, and 
depreciating Logan's version of events. On the whole I do not find it 
entirely convincing. 

17 



258 WILLIAM PENN 

and covered 6,000 acres of forest. Ten acres were 
cleared for the house and the gardens and fields. It was 
bounded by two creeks or tributary streams, one of which, 
Welcome Creek, nearly encircled it. In fact, at high 
water, Pennsbury was actually islanded. 

The mansion had a modest frontage of sixty feet, and 
stood on an eminence overlooking the river. It was 
built of brick, two stories high, and extended forty feet 
back. It had a handsome porch, with pillars from 
England, carved in a grape and vine design. The 
unfortunate Quaker hostility to decoration had not yet 
become established. As one entered, there was a large 
hall for public occasions, council meetings and Indian 
receptions, a small hall and three wainscotted parlours, 
communicating in modern American fashion, by folding 
doors. The large cistern on the roof, by its leakage, 
contributed to the decay of the mansion, which is no 
longer standing. As Worminghurst on the Sussex 
Downs has gone too, and a railway runs where Ruscombe 
stood, we are without three of the happiest homes of 
William Penn. 

A flight of steps led from the upper terrace down a 
poplar avenue to the lower walks by the river. Gardens 
and wide lawns surrounded the house, and vistas through 
the forest showed the Falls of Trenton upstream, and 
the river's course down. The owner had sent out from 
England walnuts, hawthorns, hazels, cherries and oiher 
fruit trees, and a great supply of valuable seeds and roots. 
He imported others from Maryland ; and had sent over 
skilled gardeners from home. J. F. Fisher, from whose 
researches all biographers have drawn,* obtained from 
the Founder's grandson, John Penn, an inventory of the 
furniture at Pennsbury in 1701 : — 

" In the great hall was a long table, two forms, six chairs, 
a supply of pewter plates and dishes, with six vessels called 
cisterns, for holding water or beer. In the little hall, six leather 
* Mem. Hist, Soc, Pa., III. part 2, 



IN PENNSYLVANIA AGAIN 259 

chairs and five maps. In the best parlour, two tables, one couch, 
two large and four small cane chairs, four cushions of satin and 
three of green plush. In the second parlour, one great leather 
chair, probably used by the governor, one clock and a pair of 
brasses. The four charnbers on the second floor were well supplied 
with beds, bedding, chairs, tables, etc. In three of them were 
suits of curtains, the first of satin, the second of camlet, and the 
third of striped linen. The garret chambers were furnished with 
four beds, and in one of the chambers were deposited three side- 
saddles and two pillions. In the closet were two silk blankets and 
two damask curtains for windows." 

Although pewter plates and dishes were used on 
common occasions, it appears that there was also 

" A suit of Tunbridge-ware, besides blue and white china, 
some plate, and a large supply of damask table-cloths and napkins. 
Mahogany was not then known, and the spider tables and high- 
backed chairs were of solid oak or of the darker walnut." 

Here the Indians came to him for counsel, and here it is 
said that he once entertained an Indian company with a 
hundred turkeys and other meats. 

The stable held twelve horses, and there was a coach, 
a light trap and a Sedan chair. At the present time few 
country people in America are so poor as not to keep a 
horse and trap. Horses, harness and carriages are all 
simple and cheap. " To keep a carriage " is not the sign 
of wealth that it is in England. 

The easiest way to Philadelphia was by barge, with 
its sail and six oarsmen. He always set great store by .his 
boat — as befits a man of a seafaring family. 

Traditions, supported by his account books, tell much 
of his kindnesses and charities. He was not a smoker 
and disliked the habit. But he was a delighted attender 
at fairs and Indian festivities, and did his hopping and 
jumping with the rest. His wife, who is described as a 
delicate, pretty woman, was well beloved, and performed 
all the duties of her station. The cash books show that 
the place was run by three men and four women servants. 



26o WILLIAM PENN 

He held meetings regularly every Sunday in the Hall 
at Pennsbury, Once when he was away visiting meetings, 
a little boy, his host's son at Merion, was naughty enough 
to creep up and peep through the keyhole of his bedroom, 
and was thunderstruck on seeing the Governor on his 
knees by his bedside, offering vocally thanks for his 
provision and safety in the wilderness. 

It was common at this time to use slave labour freely, 
a fact which has had the direst consequences to America. 
The Society of Friends founded, financed, and largely 
worked the abolitionist movement, which was indeed 
their main service to America during the earlier half of 
the nineteenth century. How did this current and 
popular iniquity strike Penn and his contemporaries ? 
He began by doing as other people did. In October, 
1685, he writes to James Harrison that he had better 
employ three black labourers, " for then a man has them 
while they live." In December of the same year he 
writes : — " The blacks of Capt. Allen I have as good as 
bought, so part not with them without my order." 
Clearly he had not seen on his first visit the irremediable 
wrong of the whole system. Friends began, as usual, 
with trying to improve it and make it more tolerable 
to Christian men. George Fox, whose vision was often 
remarkably far reaching in new directions, told the 
Friends of Barbadoes as early as 1671 " to train up their 
slaves in the fear of God, to cause their overseers to deal 
mildly and gently with them, and after certain years of 
servitude, they should make them free." Thus we catch 
a glimmer of the dawn, shining first on a high peak. 

In 1688, Francis Daniel Pastorius, leader among the 
German Friends from Krisheim on the Rhine, who had 
founded Germantown, now a distant suburb of Phila- 
delphia, brought, with the consent of his Monthly Meeting, 
the entire unlawfulness of slave-holding before Phila- 
delphia Yearly Meeting. This was the beginning of 
the letting out of many waters. The Meeting was, as 



IN PENNSYLVANIA AGAIN 261 

was likely, divided in opinion and — as Friends' Meetings 
do in such cases — decided not to give a positive judgment. 
Pastorius went home to Germantown much discouraged. 
The story has been beautifully told by Whittier in his 
Pennsylvania Pilgrim. In 1693, the Keithian body pro- 
tested against slavery, against buying negroes or keeping 
them after they had reasonably worked out the charges 
incurred for them.* By 1696, opinion among Friends had 
moved so far as discouraging the bringing in of any more 
negroes, and that their owners be careful of them, bring 
them to meetings, have meetings with them in their 
families, and restrain them from loose and lewd living, 
as much as in them Hes, and from rambling abroad on 
First Days or other times." It was impossible to go on 
recognising the negro as a fellow Christian, and yet to 
hold him as a slave ; and the best men began to emanci- 
pate their slaves. The family relation among these 
human cattle showed up the wickedness of the system 
most vividly. To encourage stable family relations 
interfered with selling individuals away ; but breeding 
was to be encouraged. To check this degradation, 
William Penn in 1700 passed through the Council an 
Act for regularising the marriages of negroes ; but the 
Assembly threw it out. With Friends the Governor 
succeeded better, and the Monthly Meeting of Phila- 
delphia exhorted its members to bring their negroes to 
meeting on Sundays, and appointed a special meeting for 
them once a month, to which the masters were advised 
to come. 

In 170 1 Penn made a will which he left in Logan's 
hands, in which he wrote : " I give my blacks their 
freedom, as is under my hand already, and to old Sam 
one hundred acres to be his children's, after he and his 
wife are dead, for ever." It appears that this was not 
carried out by Logan, who wrote to Hannah Penn in 
1721: "The proprietor, in a will left wdth me at his 

* " Quakers in American Colonies, p. 511. 



262 WILLIAM PENN 

departure hence, gave all his negroes their freedom, but 
this is entirely private ; however there are very few left." 
This will had been superseded. 

" In 1705 the Assembly made certain crimes capital for blacks 
which were not for whites, but the same year they taxed the 
owners of imported negroes forty shillings per head." * 

The politics of the province form the only unpleasing 
part of this two years' idyllic interval in America. We 
need not treat their somewhat sordid story with any 
completeness. There was the unending quarrel between 
the Province and the Territories, and there was revenue. 
William Penn asked for a tax of threepence in the 
pound to pay the expenses of the Government. This was 
refused, but an import on liquor yielding from ;^5oo to 
;£i,ooo a year was granted. One can imagine that this 
was more on the lines of Friends' views than the other. 
William Penn did not agree with the new Frame of 
Government of 1696, and restored the old one of 1683, 
until there should be time to arrange for an entirely 
new one. The Assembly had many difficulties with their 
landlord, as has been the way of tenant and landlord 
always. They levied a tax to raise £2,000 for him, but 
it was not paid punctually. The Assembly demanded that 
he should sell his unsold land to new purchasers at the old 
price, notwithstanding the rise in value. They claimed 
commission rights and timber from the unsold land 
between Vine and South Streets. There were certain 
lots in the city proper which had been given to people 
who had not had ten per cent, of their original purchase 
within the city of Philadelphia, but had had it given in 
the liberties instead. An argument now arose as to 
whether the city lots were subject to quit rents. In 
return for land that had been taken for roads ten per cent, 
was added to the quantity of land that had been paid for. 
Another source of complaint was the delay in the granting 
of the legal patents for lands bought. 

* Sharpless, " Quakers in American Colonies," p. 511. 



IN PENNSYLVANIA AGAIN 263 

The most ideal of colonies and the most placid and 
beautiful of countrysides have always plenty of questions 
of this kind in the background. We need not follow them 
out. The Governor was able to make a number of 
extended treaties with the Indians upon this visit. 
There he was in his element, but in August, 1701, he had to 
submit to the Assembly a letter from the English Govern- 
ment asking for £350 towards the erection of forts on the 
frontier of New York. The Assembly postponed the 
consideration of the request in view of the great sums 
lately assessed in taxes, and the arrears of quit-rents. 
They asked William Penn to assure the King of their 
willingness to obey him so far as their religious persuasion 
would permit. 

Anxiety was never far absent from the proprietor 
and people of Pennsylvania as to the security of their 
autonomy under the Crown. They always had the local 
Church party against them, and when there was a war or 
a rumour of war they had the popular cry against them, 
reinforcing always the unslumbering hostility of the 
military party at home. It was the period of the Marl- 
borough wars against France, and the North American 
colonies were thereby nearly always embroiled with the 
French colony in Canada. In 1701, the War of the 
Spanish Succession began, and a proposal was made in the 
House to annex all the proprietary governments to the 
Crown. William Penn, after two precious and useful 
years in Pennsylvania, had to return to England to save 
his province. A bill for annexing all the proprietary 
governments had been read twice in the House of Lords. 

Before he left he signed the Charter of Privileges, the 
final form of the various Frames of Government which 
had been made since 1683. Under it the colony Uved 
until the Revolution and the founding of the United States. 
It continued the principle of liberty of conscience. No one 
who believed in God was to suffer any persecution or 
prejudice, and all who believed in Jesus Christ, the Saviour 



264 WILLIAM PENN 

of the World, had full citizenship. If this be thought to 
be imperfect religious equality, it helps one's historic sense 
to remember that under the Commonwealth the penalty 
of death was (by statute) attached to disbelief in the 
Trinity, the Divinity of Christ, the bodily resurrection, 
the Day of Judgment, or the Bible being the word of 
God.* These provisions were to be secured for ever from 
alteration. A provision was included leaving it open 
to the province and the lower counties to separate if 
either of them chose to do so within the next three 
years. This they did very soon afterwards, the lower 
counties becoming the State of Delaware. A democratic 
Assembly was established under popular election. 
It had now power to originate and pass bills and sit 
on its own adjournments. A Council of State was 
nominated by the proprietor to hold office during the 
proprietor's pleasure, and their number was not fixed. 
They were to have henceforth no legislative power. 
William Penn nominated Andrew Hamilton, a former 
governor of New Jersey, to the post of Lieutenant- 
Governor in his absence, and ten more, chiefly Friends, 
to form the Council of State. The confirmation of all 
laws still remained with the King at home. On this 

* The remarkable absence of Religious Toleration in the other 
American Colonies is summed up Iby Isaac Sharpless, in the Friends' 
Intelligencer, 4. xi. 1916, as follows: — "Massachusetts and Connecticut 
had their established Congregational churches. Membership was a 
necessary qualification to vote or hold office. Up to 1691 barbarous 
persecution of dissenters went on. Episcopalians, Baptists and Quakers 
were imprisoned and banished, and four especially troublesome members 
of the latter sect were hanged on Boston Common. In New York the 
Episcopal Church, though a small minority of the population, was esta- 
blished and supported by money collected from all, though the Dutch 
worship was protected by the Treaty of Breda. Catholics were banished. 
In New Jersey, after 1702, liberty of conscience was proclaimed except for 
Baptists and Quakers. In Maryland, which under CathoUc rule had 
allowed large liberty of worship, the English Church was established in 
1696, and the Catholics themselves disfranchised. Virginia allow-ed no 
dissent ; all who did not bring their children to be baptised by the priests 
of the Established Church were subject to fine or imprisonment. Taking 
the Sacrament according to the rites of the same church was a necessary 
preliminary to a seat in the legislative Assembly in the CaroUnas ; while 
Georgia adopted the restrictions on Non-conformists established by the 
so-called Toleration Act of England. 



IN PENNSYLVANIA AGAIN 265 

occasion Penn had sent after him no fewer than a hundred 
and fourteen laws which had been passed during his 
stay. Great delays occurred constantly, and often the 
Attorney-General would require a large fee before 
passing an Act. Laws were often rejected or modified. 
They had, in fact, to suit the committee of Trade and 
Plantations at home, what we should now call the 
Colonial Office. The effect of the changes made since 
1683 was to extend the power of the Assembly and make 
it the only legislative body, and to turn the Council into 
an executive merely. 

Penn's Friends in England, aided by his son, thought 
they could stave off the bill of confiscation for that year, 
but said that nothing but his own presence could avoid 
its reintroduction the following year. He tried to induce 
Hannah and Letitia to stay behind, and await his 
intended return, but in vain. The Indians, hearing of his 
departure, came down in large numbers to bid their 
friend goodbye. The final dealings of the Assembly with 
him were merely attempts to get as much out of him 
in land concessions as possible. Some of the final arrange- 
ments have been mentioned above. 

They sailed on 3rd November, 1701, and had a quick 
winter passage to England. 



CHAPTER XXI 

Further History of Pennsylvania 

The proprietary Governments were an important group 
of colonies. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New 
Hampshire were Puritan — so was Rhode Island, though 
there Friends had an influential position ; they counted 
weightily also in West New Jersey, and in East New 
Jersey they were among the original settlers, and in some 
control. Pennsylvania they had founded, and Delaware 
they partially controlled. Maryland was a refuge for 
Catholics, and for that object enjoyed for a while complete 
religious toleration. The Carolinas had a body of aristo- 
cratic proprietors. In the long run, no doubt, some form 
of federation under the Empire, such as was indeed outlined 
by William Penn, must have come about. Unfortunately, 
it did actually come as an act of hostility to the Empire, 
at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. The pro- 
prietary system, like the East India Company and later 
Chartered Companies, was a plan for encouraging enter- 
prise and speculation in uninhabited lands, but it was not 
fitting that it should become permanent. 

On this occasion the labours of Penn and others 
prevented the bill promoted by the Board of Trade and 
Plantations from being reintroduced. The controversy 
mainly ran on alleged disorders and maladministration, 
and Penn had " the unspeakable fatigue and vexation of 
following attendance, drafts of answer, conferences, 
counsel's opinions, hearings, etc., with the charge that 
follows them, guineas melting, four, five, six a week, and 

a66 



FURTHER HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA 267 

sometimes as many in a day. "* Col. Quarry came over 
from Pennsylvania, " to do us all the mischief he can." 
Under pressure the Companies which owned the Jerseys 
surrendered the duties of government to the Crown; 
" an ugly preface," Penn called it. 

Deputy-Governor Hamilton died in April, 1703, and 
then his employer found from the Secretary to the Lords 
of Trade that he had all the time been using his position 
to attempt to destroy the Proprietary Government. " I 
could as soon have picked a pocket, or denied my friend 
or name," was Penn's commentary. Nevertheless, in his 
usual forgiving way, he obtained the postmastership for 
Hamilton's son. 

The poverty of the generous hearted Governor 
during these years was pitiful, and grew worse. All the 
legal charges for the maintenance of the Charter he bore 
from his own pocket. The quit-rents were generally 
unpaid ; on these he relied to pay the expenses of the 
Government of the colony. The meanness and greed of 
the colonists is a puzzling feature, treated on a later 
page. They were half of them Friends. By 1702, it was 
calculated by James Logan that half the population of the 
colony were in the city of Philadelphia — and that Friends 
accounted for one third of the city population 
and two-thirds of that of the country. One finds a 
difficulty in reconciling this conduct with the general 
probity of Friends and their undoubted love and venera- 
tion for their Governor when he was with them. " I 
believe there are not in the whole Assembly three men 
that wish ill to thee," wrote Logan. It may be fair to 
say that during the war of the Spanish Succession from 
1701 onwards, the province was poor and everyone hit 
by the war. The disaffected colonists may have argued 
that as owner of the whole land and as Governor over 
them not of their appointing, it was his business as much 

* Letter to Logan. Everjrthing henceforth about Pennsylvania 
is from the Logan correspondence, copiously printed by Janney. 



268 WILLIAM PENN 

as theirs to pay the salaries of officials, and his own 
maintenance as governor. But that is no excuse for not 
pajang a quit-rent one had agreed to pay. 

That some thought they might come upon the 
Governor for everything is shown by the fact that at 
New Castle, on his way home, he received a letter from 
David Lloyd and another as executors of his good friend, 
Thomas Lloyd, asking him to pay compensation for 
Thomas Lloyd's services for nine years as lieutenant 
governor in the early days. The result of all this treat- 
ment was that every letter to his agent begs for money. 
" I never was so low and so reduced. For Ireland, my 
old principal verb, has hardly any money, England severe 
to her — no trade but hither — and at England's mercy 
for prices (save butter and meat to Flanders and the West 
Indies) ." An example of keeping trade and raw materials 
within the Empire — the old mercantile system. Note 
the effect on the exchange of crippling Irish exports. 
Ireland had hardly any money. The exchange against 
Ireland was from twenty to twenty-six per cent. A 
portion of the Irish property had now to be paid to his 
son William, and it was mortgaged besides. 

William was, from this time, his father's greatest 
sorrow. While his father had been away he had fallen 
into drink and debauchery. He was still young in that 
path, and might be reformed by kindliness and influence, 
it was hoped, as other young society rakes had been. His 
debts were an additional drain on his father. Letitia 
married, soon after she came home, a merchant named 
William Aubrey, who comes into this narrative chiefly 
on account of the rudeness and the bullying methods — 
his father-in-law's own phrase — with which he pressed for 
his wife's dowry. The central fraud of all, that of the 
Fords, his trusted agents, matured later, but was dragging 
upon him now. 

He had promised to send his son William to Pennsyl- 
vania as his representative, and did so, hoping for his 



FURTHER HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA 269 

reform, as fathers will ; and he wrote to Logan and to the 
leading Friends to keep in touch with him and use gentle 
persuasive methods. But Governor Evans, the young 
man whom he sent over at the same time, proved to be 
WiUiam's boon companion and built the same way. 
They arrived together in February, 1704 (new style). 
Unfortunately, Pennsylvania was never to see its 
founder again. If a Friend of weight and character 
could have been appointed Lieutenant-Governor, and 
if the Society of Friends had predominated in the popu- 
lation, and if there had been none o. the complications due 
to the empire's wars, its story might have been one of 
peace and happiness seldom reaUsed on earth ; but the 
Lieutenant-Governor had to be someone who did not 
mind receiving and carrying out military mstructions 
and trying to levy war taxes. The position was not well 
paid nor very dignified ; it was one of continual worry 

and some risk. . ■, j 

John Evans was only twenty-six. Hamilton had done 
his best to enlist a company of soldiers. The drums 
beat but only a few inconsiderable people responded. 
The second muster was a complete failure, the 
Anglican opponents of the Quakers having reached 
the conclusion that if they voluntered in this way 
it would only confirm the Quaker government m the 
good books of the ministry at home. They therefore 
refused to volunteer from reasons opposite to that of 
Friends The question of oaths constituted another 
difficulty at the provincial court. The Quaker judges, who 
were in a majority, in spite of the refusal of their colleagues 
to sit with them on the bench, and of the Attorney- 
General to prosecute, proceeded without oaths taken, 
by either jury or witnesses. Great disturbances arose 
fomented by Colonel Quarry. William Penn in England 
defended his friends, as the author of the " Treatise on 
Oaths" would be sure to do. But Quarry obtained an 
order from the Queen requiring all persons to take or 



270 WILLIAM PENN 

administer the oaths required by the law of England or 
the affirmation allowed to Quakers, that is to say that the 
practice of the colony was to be assimilated to that of the 
mother country. This was not an unreasonable regula- 
tion. The difficulty was that it required Quaker judges 
to admit other persons to take oaths. The Council 
submitted to Quarry, but Penn advised that the 
instruction should be disregarded. 

William Penn's own sympathies would almost always 
have been essentially with the Quaker Assembly in their 
quarrels with the Lieutenant-Governors, except in matters 
of finance. Outwardly, however, a quarrel with the 
Lieutenant-Governor meant a quarrel with the Governor 
behind him, who was also the ground-landlord of the 
colony. It does not seem unreasonable that William 
Penn should expect that the colonists would pay the 
expenses of their government, but when he asked them to 
do this, and to pay £200 which he owed for Hamilton's 
salary, they adjourned and excused themselves and passed 
laws for securing and confirming their privileges, quite 
in the manner of the Long Parliament, For their excuse 
it may be remembered that they had been brought up in 
the school of opposition to all governments. David 
Lloyd, the Welshman, was the acrimonious leader of the 
Assembly, of which he was the Speaker. He was the 
unceasing enemy of the proprietor, a democrat who had 
got into the wrong place. On the other hand, Evans, 
running counter to his employer's view, declared void 
the proceedings of the courts where the Queen's order 
about oaths had not been obeyed. He also organised a 
militia, promised that those who enlisted should be 
exempted from the duty of watch and ward, that is from 
the duty of special constables, who maintained order 
in the city. This led to a brawl at a tavern between 
militia officers and watchmen, or special constables, and 
the next night William Penn junior was there when the 
watch came round, and assisted in beating them off. 



FURTHER HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA 271 

Governor Evans was engaged in another brawl, in which 
the Mayor, the Recorder, and Alderman Wilcocks came 
to the assistance of the watchmen, and Wilcocks seems to 
have beaten the Lieutenant-Governor more severely on 
account of his responsible position. In October, 1704, 
David Lloyd, using irregularly the name of the Assembly,* 
wrote " a most virulent unmannerly invective " to William 
Penn, attacking both him and his deputies ; and this was 
enclosed in a letter to such Friends in England as William 
Mead, who were known to be unfriendly to William Penn, 
a device to make as much trouble as possible for the man 
to whom they owed all they had. The disturbances which 
followed upon this brought a reaction in favour of the 
Governor, and a letter was sent to him in 1705, declaring 
the signatories' abhorrence of David Lloyd's paper, and 
assuring him of their readiness to support all the charge 
of government. This was signed by a great body of 
Friends who roused themselves to an energetic political 
canvass, and the next Assembly were all Friends except 
one, and well-affected towards their Founder. They set 
about to collect the arrears of quit-rents that were due to 
him, and they appropriated £1,400 to pay the Lieutenant- 
Governor's salary and other public charges. Evans's 
next escapade was to forge a letter from the Governor of 
Maryland announcing that privateers were off the 
Virginian capes. He also arranged that a man should ride 
up in great haste from New Castle to frighten the citizens 
with the tale that six French ships had bombarded New 
Castle, and were making up the river. By this means 
he hoped that sufficient Quakers would respond to a call 
to arms to show up the inconsistency of their behaviour. 
Evans summoned all those who would, to defend them- 
selves. Half a dozen young Quakers took their guns, 
but it being Meeting Day, the meeting was held as usual, 
and Friends remained steadfast and quiet. James Logan 
took a boat down the river and exploded the falsehood. 

* Janney, pp. 485-6. 



272 WILLIAM PENN 

Evans next summoned a special session of the Assembly 
and threw upon it the responsibility for not defending 
the province. They replied that they believed they were 
quite safe, and that Virginia and Maryland, "which are 
more ancient settlements and close to the seaboard, have 
no fortifications, so that we are no worse than they." 
Evans next arranged that every ship that went by the 
New Castle fort on the way to the ocean should pay 
powder money. A Quaker merchant named Richard Hill 
went down on his own ship, refused to stop to pay the toll, 
and was fired upon from the fort at New Castle, which it 
will be remembered was in Delaware, not in Pennsylvania. 
The ship was uninjured and, hotly pursued by boats, put 
over to Salem in New Jersey, whose Governor severely 
resented the action of Evans. By this act Richard Hill 
broke down the intended imposition. 

James Logan was a faithful land-agent for the Penn 
family property in Pennsylvania, but with such clients 
as he had he could hardly be popular. The Assembly 
desired the Judges to be popularly elected. He advised 
that courts be re-established under the right granted by 
charter to William Penn. This caused the Assembly to 
impeach him in February, 1707, but Governor Evans 
decided that he could not try such a case. 

As early as 1703, we find that Penn had lost hope of 
finally retaining his Government in the colony ; and 
was in treaty with the Queen's ministers to sell it to them ; 
thus obtaining money to pay his debts, and being relieved 
of the perpetual drain of the expenses of governing the 
province, and of fighting against its enemies in London. 
This course had the, no doubt, regretful approval of 
James Logan, and of some of the best Friends in Phila- 
delphia, who wished to give their Friend and Founder a 
quieter life. He would remain the landowner and be able 
to come and live a happy and useful life at Pennsbury. 

But Penn would not sell the Government to the 
Queen unless upon conditions which would guarantee 



FURTHER HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA 273 

to the colonists the constitution and liberties they 
possessed under him. To buy out a Lord Proprietor 
was a welcome proposal to English statesmen, but to give 
away the free hand of sovereign power was quite another 
thing, particularly with a mild penal code, a democratic 
assembly, an objection to oaths and to an established 
Church, and a dogged resistance to military grants, 
as the chief characteristics of the colonial government. 
So the negotiations made little progress. For the next 
nine years Penn was carrying on a transaction, counter to 
his own interest, for the sake of the colonists and the 
future of his great scheme. The office of the Lords of 
Trade kept up friendly relations with the Governor, who 
must have been its frequent visitor. The officials once 
advised buying out the holdings of the Anglican 
faction, which Penn thought four Friends could do — and 
once talked of removing Quarry, whose "foul practices" 
and those of his " venomous adherents " brought strong 
words to the lips of the patient Governor. Ultimately, 
Quarry received a reprimand from the Board of Trade. 
This made him more friendly and submissive.. He pro- 
fessed friendship to the Governor and became his tenant 
for Pennsbury, where he resided at £40 a year. The low 
rent may have been due to the fact that he undertook 
to vacate it at six months' notice if Penn returned. 
One notes too, that Penn, the incorrigible optimist, the 
man of charity and hope, begins to write of " the false 
wisdom of the low and miserable world." " What shall 
we say of this wretched world? " The humiliating episode 
of the behaviour of William Penn, Jun., in the colony 
ended by his return, in great indignation with Friends for 
dealing with him, and with the Government for prosecuting 
him, in January, 1705. The loss of his son's soul Penn put 
down to the heavy account of what Pennsylvania had 
cost him, He thought that if he had not been away from 
him from 1699 to 1701, he might have saved him from 
demoralisation. 

18 



274 WILLIAM PENN 

The Assembly of 1707 made an attack upon Logan 
which failed, as previously mentioned, but an attack 
which succeeded upon Governor Evans. Both attacks 
were promoted by David Lloyd because these men were 
the pillars of the Proprietor's interest : but Logan's 
armour could not be pierced, while Evans's unfortunately 
was full of weak places. They drew up a Remonstrance 
addressed to the Proprietor, reciting Evans's sins, his 
immoral conduct and that of his retinue among the Indian 
families on a visit to Conestoga, his refusal to pass a 
Judiciary bill to make the Judges popularly elected, his 
impositions upon trade by the tax at New Castle — his 
militia proceedings — his tavern licences — his '* false 
alarm " — his licences for privateering, his maltreating the 
constable at the midnight row — and so forth. This was 
cunningly sent to the leading Friends, George Whitehead, 
William Mead and Thomas Lower, with instructions 
to present it to Penn and to the Lords of Trade and 
Plantations. 

These Friends visited the Governor, and told 
him that unless he put in a new Deputy Governor 
they would have to carry the matter forward to 
the Lords of Trade. Penn had no case for refusal, 
and thought it kinder to Evans to dismiss him than to 
let his faults be magnified before the Government. The 
strength of the David Lloyd party in the Assembly would 
be incomprehensible if we forgot that Penn's friends were 
always being let down or given away by the Deputy 
Governor. 

The Remonstrance of 1704, about the Government of 
the Province, illegally signed by David Lloyd on behalf of 
the Assembly, lost at sea, and then reproduced in duplicate, 
had excited the attention of certain Friends in London far 
more than it ought to have done. It was referred to in 
the Remonstrance of 1707. Isaac Norris, of Philadelphia, 
was, happily, in London, probably on the Ford business, 
and when he saw that Friends like Thomas Lower and 



FURTHER HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA 275 

William Mead,* never very friendly to Penn, were inclined to 
be influenced by it against him, he was able to tell them the 
whole discreditable story. George Whitehead and the 
two Friends named, however, suggested to Penn that he 
should write to strengthen the good forces in the colony, 
which he promptly did, to satisfy them and make clearness 
clear. 

He still hoped to go and live and die in Pennsylvania ; 
for care of Friends, and 

" settling plantations for my poor minors ; for planters, God 
willing, they shall be in their father's country, rather than great 
merchants in their native land ; and to visit Friends throughout 
the continent, at least their chief est business." 

Happily the failure of these hopes for his children did not 
come in his time. 

A better story than Evans's might have been hoped for 
from the next Governor, Charles Gookin, a respectable 
officer in the army, who undertook the government in 
February of 1709. The conflict between James Logan 
and David Lloyd flamed out seriously at this time how- 
ever, and the Assembly, under Lloyd's direction, was more 
than ever quarrelsome, not, Isaac Norris says, due to the 
Quaker influence, " but to Keithians and to those who 
stand fast and loose with Friends," that is to nominal 
members. In November Logan sailed for England, 
although the Assembly, as mentioned before, attempted 
to arrest him and put him in gaol to prevent his departure. 
He was tried in England and triumphantly acquitted. 

Happily this is the last factious session which we have 
to record. The Assembly of 1710 was composed of 
entirely different men : not a single old member retained 
his seat. The sober friends of Penn had bestirred them- 
selves over the election, and every one elected was friendly 

* This was his old colleague at the trial of Penn and Mead in 1670. 
He had married Sarah Fell, daughter of Margaret Fox, and he was a leading 
Friend, though apparently he died out of love with them. (Joseph 
Smith's Catalogue.) 



276 WILLIAM PENN 

to him. Richard Hill, the leading Friend, was Speaker. 
Order, harmony and the prompt despatch of business 
characterised the proceedings. Isaac Norris was a pro- 
minent member, David Lloyd removed to Chester. 
Between the elections and the business sessions a beautiful 
document of expostulation was received from the Governor. 
It is long to print here in full, but I am loth to omit it. 
Clarkson and Janney both print it complete. It gives 
in clear and summary form a view of the situation as it 
had been. 

" London, 29th 4th mo. 1710. 

" My Old Friends ! — It is a mournful consideration, and the 
cause of deep afHiction to me that I am forced, by the oppressions 
and disappointments which have fallen to my share in this life, 
to speak to the people of that province in a language I once hoped 
I should never have had occasion to use. But the many troubles 
and oppositions that I have met with from thence oblige me, in 
plainness and freedom, to expostulate with you concerning the 
causes of them. 

" When it pleased God to open a way for me to settle that 
colony, I had reason to expect a solid comfort from the services 
done to many hundreds of people ; and it was no small satis- 
faction to me that I have not been disappointed in seeing them 
prosper, and gro^^^ng up to a flourishing country, blessed with 
liberty, ease and plenty, beyond what many of themselves could 
expect, and wanting nothing to make themselves happy but 
what, with a right temper of mind and prudent conduct, they 
might give themselves. But, alas, as to my part, instead of 
reaping the like advantages, some of the greatest of my troubles 
have arisen from thence. The many combats I have engaged 
in, the great pains and incredible expense for your welfare and 
ease, to the decay of my former estate, of which (however some 
there would represent it) I too sensibly feel the effects, with the 
undeserved opposition I have met with from thence, sink me into 
sorrow, that, if not supported by a superior hand, might have 
overwhelmed me long ago. And I cannot but think it hard 
measure, that, while that has proved a land of freedom and 
flourishing, it should become to me, by whose means it was princi- 
pally made a country, the cause of grief, trouble and poverty. 



FURTHER HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA 277 

" For this reason, I must desire you all, even of all professions 
and degrees, (for although all have not been engaged in the 
measures that have been taken, yet every man who has interest 
there is, or must be, concerned in them by their effects) . I must 
therefore, I say, desire you all, in a serious and true weightiness of 
mind, to consider what you are, or have been doing ; why matters 
must be carried on with these divisions and contentions, and what 
real causes have been given, on my side, for that opposition to me 
and my interest, which I have met with, as if I were an enemy, 
and not a friend, after all I have done and spent both here and 
there : I am sure I know not of any cause whatsoever. Were I 
sensible you really wanted anything of me, in the relation between 
us, that would make you happier, I should readily grant it if any 
reasonable man would say it were fit for you to demand, pro- 
vided you would also take such measures as are fit for me to 
join with. 

" Before any one family had transported themselves thither, I 
earnestly endeavoured to form such a model of government as 
might make all concerned in it easy ; which, nevertheless, was 
subject to be altered as there should be occasion. Soon after we 
got over, that model appeared, in some parts of it, to be very in- 
convenient, if not impracticable. The numbers of members, both 
in the council and assembly, were much too large. Some other 
matters also proved inconsistent with the king's charter to me ; so 
that, according to the power reserved for an alteration, there was 
a necessity to make one, in which, if the lower counties (the 
territories) were brought in, it was well known at that time to be 
on a view of advantage to the province itself, as well as to the 
people of those counties, and to the general satisfaction of those 
concerned, without the least apprehension of any irregularity 
in the method. 

" Upon this they had another charter passed, nemine conira- 
dicenU, which I always desired might be continued while you 
yourselves would keep up to it, and put it in practice ; and many 
there know how much it was against my will, that, upon my last 
going over, it was vacated. But, after this was laid aside, (which 
indeed was begun by yourselves in Colonel Fletcher's time,) I, 
according to my engagement, left another, with all the privileges 
that were found convenient for your good government ; and, if 
any part of it has been, in any case, infringed, it was never by my 



278 WILLIAM PENN 

approbation. I desired it might be enjoyed fully. But, though 
privileges ought to be tenderly preserved, they should not, on the 
other hand, be asserted under that name to a licentiousness : 
the design of government is to preserve good order, which may 
be equally broke in upon by the turbulent endeavours of the people 
as well as the overstraining of powers in a governor. I designed 
the people should be secured of an annual fixed election and 
assembly ; and that they should have the same privileges in it that 
any other assembly has in the queen's dominions; among all 
which this is one constant rule, as in the parliament here, that 
they should sit on their own adjournments ; but to strain this 
expression to a power to meet at all times during the year, without 
the governor's concurrence, would be to distort government, to 
break the due proportion of the parts of it, to establish confusion 
in the place of necessary order, and make the legislative the 
executive part of government. Yet, for obtaining this power, 
I perceive, much time and money has been spent, and great 
struggles have been made, not only for this, but some other things 
that cannot at all be for the advantage of the people to be 
possessed of ; particularly the appointment of judges ; because 
the administration might, by such means, be so clogged, that it 
would be difficult, if possible, under our circumstances, at some 
times to support it. As for my own part, as I desire nothing more 
than the tranquillity and prosperity of the province and govern- 
ment in all its branches, could I see that any of these things that 
have been contended for would certainly promote these ends, it 
would be a matter of indifference to me how they were settled. 
But, seeing the frame of every government ought to be regular 
in itself, well proportioned and subordinate in its parts, and every 
branch of it invested with sufficient power to discharge its respec- 
tive duty for the support of the whole, I have cause to believe that 
nothing could be more destructive to it than to take so much of 
the provision and executive part of the government out of the 
governor's hands and lodge it in an uncertain collective body ; and 
more especially since our government is dependent, and I am 
answerable to the crown if the administration should fail and a 
stop be put to the course of justice. On these considerations I 
cannot think it prudent in the people to crave these powers ; 
because not only I, but they themselves, would be in danger of 
suffering by it. Could I believe otherwise, I should not be against 



FURTHER HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA 279 

granting anything of this kind that were asked of me with any 
degree of common prudence and civiHty. But, instead of finding 
cause to beheve the contentions that have been raised about these 
matters have proceeded only from mistakes of judgment, with 
an earnest desire, notwithstanding, at the bottom, to serve the 
pubHc, (which, I hope, has still been the inducement of several 
concerned in them,) I have had but too sorrowful a view and sight 
to complain of the manner in which I have been treated. The 
attacks on my reputation ; the many indignities put upon me in 
papers sent over hither into the hands of those who could not 
be expected to make the most discreet and charitable use of them ; 
the secret insinuations against my justice, besides the attempt 
made upon my estate ; resolves past in the assemblies for turning 
my quit-rents, never sold by me, to the support of government ; 
my lands entered upon without any regular method ; my manors 
invaded, (under pretence I had not duly surveyed them,) and both 
these by persons principally concerned in these attempts against 
me here ; a right to my overplus land unjustly claimed by the 
possessors of the tracts in which they are found ; my private 
estate continually exhausting for the support of that government, 
both here and there, and no provision made for it by that country ; 
to all which I cannot but add the violence that has been particu- 
larly shown to my secretary ; of which (though I shall by no means 
protect him in anything he can be justly charged with, but suffer 
him to stand or fall by his o\^^l actions) I cannot but thus far take 
notice, that, from all the charges I have seen or heard of against 
him, I have cause to believe, that had he been as much in oppo- 
sition to me as he had been understood to stand for me, he might 
have met with a milder treatment from his persecutors ; and to 
think that any man should be the more exposed there on my 
account, and, instead of finding favour, meet \vith enmity, for 
his being engaged in my service, is a melancholy consideration. 
In short, when I reflect on all these heads, of which I have so much 
cause to complain, and, at the same time, think of the hardships 
I and my suffering family have been reduced to, in no small 
measure owing to my endeavours for and disappointments from 
that province ; I cannot but mourn the unhappiness of my portion 
dealt to me from those of whom I had reason to expect much 
better and different things ; nor can I but lament the unhappiness 
that too many of them are bringing upon themselves, who, 



28o WILLIAM PENN 

instead of pursuing the amicable ways of peace, love, and unity, 
which I at first hoped to find in that retirement, are cherishing a 
spirit of contention and opposition, and, bhnd to their own 
interest, are oversetting that foundation on which your happiness 
might be built. 

" Friends ! the eyes of many are upon you ; the people of 
many nations of Europe look on that country as a land of ease 
and quiet, wishing to themselves in vain the same blessings they 
conceive you may enjoy ; but, to see the use you make of them 
is no less the cause of surprise to others, while such bitter com- 
plaints and reflections are seen to come from you, of which it is 
difficult to conceive either the sense or meaning. What are 
the distresses, grievances, and oppressions, that the papers, 
sent from thence, so often say you languish under, while others 
have cause to believe you have hitherto lived, or might hve, the 
happiest of any in the queen's dominions. 

" Is it such a grievous oppression, that the courts are estab- 
lished by my power, founded on the king's charter, without a law 
of your making, when upon the same plan you propose ? If 
this disturb any, take the advice of other able lawyers on the main, 
without tying me up to the opinion of principally one man, 
whom I cannot think so very proper to direct in my affairs, (for 
I beUeve the late assembly have had but that one lawyer amongst 
them,)* and I am freely content you should have any law that, 
by proper judges, should be found suitable. Is it your oppression 
that the officers' fees are not settled by an act of assembly ? No 
man can be a greater enemy to extortion than myself. Do, there- 
fore allow such fees as may reasonably encourage fit persons to 
undertake these offices, and you shall soon have (and should have 
always cheerfully had) mine, and, I hope, my lieutenant's con- 
currence and approbation. Is it such an oppression that licences 
for public-houses have not been settled, as has been proposed ? 
It is a certain sign you are strangers to oppression, and know 
nothing but the name, when 3'ou so highly bestow it on matters 
so inconsiderable ; but that business I find is adjusted. Could I 
know any real oppression you lie under, that it is in my power to 
remedy, (and what I wish you would take proper measures to 
remedy, if you truly feel any such), I should be as ready, on my 
part, to remove them, as you to desire it ; but according to the 

* David Lloyd. 



FURTHER HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA 281 

best judgment I can make of the complaints I have seen, (and you 
once thought I had a pretty good one), I must, in a deep sense of 
sorrow, say, that I fear the kind hand of Providence, that has so 
long favoured and protected you, will, by the ingratitude of many 
there, to the great mercies of God hitherto shown them, be at 
length provoked to convince them of their unworthiness ; and, 
by changing the blessintrs, that so httle care has been taken by the 
pubUc to deserve, into calamities, reduce those that have been so 
clamorous and causelessly discontented, to a true, but smarting 
sense of their duty. I write not this with a design to include all ; 
I doubt not, many of you have been burdened at, and can by no 
means join in, the measures that have been taken ; but, while 
such things appear under the name of an assembly that ought to 
represent the whole, I cannot but speak more generally than I 
would desire, though I am not insensible what methods may be 
used to obtain the weight of such a name. 

" I have already been tedious, and shall now, therefore, 
briefly say, that the opposition I have met with from thence must 
at length force me to consider more closely of my own private 
and sinking circumstances in relation to that province. In the 
mean time I desire you all seriously to weigh what I have wrote, 
together with your duty to yourselves, to me, and to the world, 
who have their eyes upon you, and are witnesses of my early and 
earnest care for you. I must think there is a regard due to me 
that has not of late been paid ; pray consider of it fully, and think 
soberly what you have to desire of me, on the one hand, and ought 
to perform to me on the other ; for from the next assembly I shall 
expect to know what you resolve, and what I may depend on. 
If I must continue my regards to you, let me be engaged to it by 
a like disposition in you towards me. But if a plurality, after 
this, shall think they owe me none, or no more than for some years 
I have met with, let it, on a fair election be so declared, and I 
shall then, without further suspense, know what I have to rely 
upon. God give you his wisdom and fear to direct you, that yet 
our poor country may be blessed with peace, love and industry, 
and we may once more meet good friends, and live so to the end, 
our relation in the truth having but the same true interest. 

" I am, with great truth and most sincere regard, your real 
friend, as well as just proprietor and governor, 

" William Penn." 



282 WILLIAM PENN 

The Assembly made a proper provision for the 
expenses of government. In 1711, on a demand for a war 
grant, the Assembly voted £2,000 for general purposes 
to the Queen. 

In 1712, they passed an Act, on Quaker lines, heavily 
taxing the importation of negroes or Indians. Unfor- 
tunately, the Home Government, not being on Quaker 
lines, vetoed it. The trade interest in the traffic 
in slaves was too strong in England. The penalty for 
this wickedness and greed, in the settlement of a slave 
population in the Southern States, in the great war of the 
sixties, and in the race problem of the future, is written 
in type as large as that of most of the lessons of history. 
Yet there are people still who think that Quakers are im- 
practicable idealists, and that immediate trade interests 
alone are what sober and sensible people should consider. 
The tax of ;,r20 per head on imported slaves passed by 
the Assembly was in fact prohibitive, and was imposed 
after the request of a Friend named William Southeby 
for the total abolition of slavery. It was about the middle 
of the eighteenth century before Friends officially, under 
the influence of John Woolman, Anthony Benezet and 
Benjamin Lay, pronounced against slavery altogether. 
Woolman' s " Considerations on the keeping of Negroes " 
came out in 1754. In 1758 the Yearly Meeting committed 
itself to the Anti-Slavery crusade, which proved to be 
the work of a hundred years. By the time of the Revolu- 
tionary War they had persuaded all their members to 
fall into line, except a few who were finally disowned.* 

Oldmixon, a strong supporter of the Revolution, in 
his " Account of the British Empire in America," (1708) 
gives us an unbiassed view of the troubles between Penn 
and his colonists, thus : — 

" We shall not enter into any enquiries into the causes of the 
trouble that has been given Mr. Penn lately about the Province 

* Isaac Sharpless, " Quakers in American Colonies," chap. VII. 



FURTHER HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA 283 

of Pennsylvania : it appears to us, by what we have heard of it 
from others, for from himself we never had any information 
concerning it, that he has been involved in it by his bounty to the 
Indians, his generosity in minding the public affairs of the Colony 
more than his own private ones, his humanity to those who have 
not made suitable returns, his confidence in those who have 
betrayed him, and the rigour of the severest equity, a word that 
borders the nearest to injustice of any. 'Tis certainly the 
duty of this Colony to maintain the Proprietary, who has laid out 
his all for the maintenance of them, in the possession of his 
territory ; and public gratitude ought to make good what they 
reap the benefit of."* 

Richard Hill was during these years the leading Quaker 
and friend of the proprietor of the colony. Gookin, who 
grew queer, accused him of intending to proclaim the 
Pretender as King. Logan wrote to England urging that 
Gookin be removed and his place filled by Colonel Keith, 
a Scotchftnan who inherited a baronetcy during his gover- 
norship and became Sir William Keith, controlling the 
affairs of Pennsylvania for nine years beginning in May, 
1717. But we have now reached the time when William 
Penn's troubled life came to an end, and we need not carry 
further the local politics of Pennsylvania. At this time 
it is estimated that there were forty thousand Europeans 
in the colony, of whom one half belonged to the Society 
of Friends. Philadelphia w^as a city of ten thousand 
population. Clarkson gives a population of 60,000 in 
Penn's dominions, probably including the territories, now 
Delaware. None of the proprietor's descendants who 
inherited Pennsylvania were Friends. They became 
merged in the ranks of the aristocracy, and the main- 
tenance of the principles of the founder lay with the 
Quaker Assembly. 

The affairs of the colony settled down into a more 
peaceful habit than in the troubled years we have recently 
recounted. David Lloyd who, from 17 11 onwards con- 

* Clarkson, II., p. 299. 



284 WILLIAM PENN 

tinued to take a prominent place in public affairs, signed 
the affectionate memorial to William Penn which Friends 
sent after his death. He became friendly with Logan 
as both grew old, and helped him in elucidating the pro- 
prietary title to the Lower Counties, which included his 
home at Chester.* Year by year a Quaker majority 
existed in the Assembly, even when the Friends fell to 
about one-seventh of the population. The colony sur- 
passed all the other older colonies in prosperity. The 
same men were elected without contest year by year in 
much peace and quietness. Pennsylvania in the colonial 
period must have been one of the happiest places that 
have ever existed as the home of man on the restless planet. 
Much of this tranquillity was aided by the fact that Great 
Britain was not at war with France for much of this 
period. When war began in 1744 troubles began too. 

The Seven Years War, which began in 1756, finally 
crippled William Penn's Holy Experiment. The church 
party and military party at home were attempting to 
pass an act imposing the oath for all colonial assemblies, 
which would have had the effect of a Test Act, and 
excluded Friends. Leading Friends in London, under the 
guidance of Dr. John Fothergill, thought that this could be 
avoided if Friends in Pennsylvania consented to resign 
their seats in the Assembly and no longer attempted to 
control the policy of the colony. They decided that this 
was the lesser of two evils, and most of them retired 
from the Assembly and undertook to abandon politics. 
However judicious such a course was felt to be at the time, 
it resulted in disaster to the Society of Friends in divorcing 
it from a share in public affairs. 

At the close of the colonial period, about 1760, there 
were 20,000 people in Philadelphia and 200,000 in the 
Province, f It was second only to New England in size. 

* Janney, p. 556. 

t Anderson, " Historical and Chronological Deductions of the Origin 
of Commerce," quoted by Clarkson, II., p. 423. 



FURTHER HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA 285 

Alone among the colonies, its paper money, cautiously 
issued and well secured, never depreciated. 

The mild penal code of 1682 confined the death penalty 
to murder and treason. So far as is known there was 
only one execution, and that for murder, before 1700. 
Penn disliked even so much use of the despairing penalty 
of death ; but he appears to have been influenced by the 
text, " Whoever shall shed man's blood, by man shall his 
blood be shed." Under his own guidance he saw " the 
wickedness of exterminating, where it was possible to 
reform." He required two witnesses, proof of clear 
premeditation, and the sanction of the Executive, before 
execution. In 1718, the year of his death, a poHtical 
bargain with the English government was made, by which 
affirmations were sanctioned throughout, instead of oaths ; 
but some dozen offences were added to the capital Hst. 
The Assembly were clearly some way behind Penn in this 
matter. When, after the Revolution, the State regained 
complete autonomy, it restored Penn's original law, 
and has kept it. It also carried out Penn's second 
principle that prisons should be workshops. Clarkson, 
who was an expert in philanthropic work of this kind, 
wrote in 1813 that Pennsylvania was the only state in the 
world with a really enlightened penal code. 

We may sum up the results of the Holy Experiment 
at the cost of a little repetition. 

This great attempt to conduct a state without an army 
or fleet, with no class distinctions dependent on status 
as was the case in Virginia and the Carolinas, entirely 
democratic, the home of religious liberty, without an 
established church, open to all mankind without dis- 
tinction of nationality, with a humane penal code, and 
with a daring application of Christianity to the treat- 
ment of natives, this " holy experiment," achieved 
its century of success in spite of the outside diffi- 
culties we have recorded. These do not take away 
from the proved efficiency of Christian principles. 



286 WILLIAM PENN 

though they debarred the Founder from the advantage 
of laboratory conditions. 

The British Empire was engaged during most of the 
colony's formative and difficult years in two long wars 
with France, the war of the Grand Alliance, and the war 
of the Spanish Succession, covering with brief intervals 
the whole active life of William Penn after the Revolution. 
Moreover France was the rival power in America, and wars 
against the French in Canada and their allied Indians 
were part of the European struggle. The threat to unify 
the British command by taking away his Government was 
always hanging over Penn ; and was, for two years, 
actually carried out. The contest with the demands of 
the Imperial connection did in fact so discourage Penn, 
that nothing but an unexpected stroke of paralysis at 
the nick of time saved the proprietary Government in 
1712. 

An even more disastrous consequence of this perilous 
tenure was that it kept William Penn in London for long 
periods of years ; so that he only spent two periods of two 
years each on the Delaware. He had to be on his defence 
at headquarters. This gave the opportunity to faction, 
which lowered its flag always to the proprietor and father 
of the country, but thought little of deputies. 

The difficulty of the narrative is to account for the 
behaviour of the settlers in his absence, seeing that, 
to begin with, the colonists were all Friends, who owed 
the peace of their homes and freedom from persecution to 
their beloved Friend WiUiam Penn. On this point we 
may say: — 

Firstly, that very soon others began to come : 
Anglicans, who thought Friends a queer common lot of 
people and complained of persecution, which they frankly 
defined as a refusal of the superior standing they held 
in England : Presbyterians from Scotch families in Ulster, 
a dogmatic race, whose Calvinism was the antithesis 
of the benignant Quaker faith in the light and grace 



FURTHER HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA 287 

within. These men in after years made Indian troubles 
by a policy of violence and robbery, quoting Joshua and 
" driving out the heathen that the saints might possess 
the land." 

Secondly, there were the Keithians, a term in common 
use : separatist Friends whose theology was more Pres- 
byterian or Anglican than Quaker, and who hated William 
Penn and the Friends they had left. Logan wrote in 
1706, " It is the very leaven of George Keith left among 
the people at his separation, and now fermenting up again ; 
and these proceedings are contrary to the minds of honest 
Friends, as appears by their letter of 1705." 

Thirdly, the desire not to pay quit-rents, not to pay 
for the expenses of government, and to plunder a landlord, 
is a quality of the human nature of certain people, apart 
altogether from religious affiliation. 

Fourthly, it is plain that when roused to political 
activity by a sense of right, loyal Friends had control 
when they chose to exercise it. Witness the revulsions 
of 1705 and 1710, the steady government and absence of 
party spirit for thirty years after that date, and the 
general wisdom of the Assembly so long as it lasted. 

The presence of a British Court of Admiralty, under 
Colonel Quarry, a hotbed of slander constantly pouring in 
to the Home Government ; and the difficulty about 
Friends administering oaths, were other troubles which 
had to be overcome. 

When the Seven Years War set Great Britain and 
France into their central conflict for dominance on the 
American continent, it was found that the only way to 
keep the Charter was for Friends to withdraw voluntarily 
from the position of a majority in the Assembly. Their 
methods and policy were, however, continued by their 
successors, elected by the same votes as before, and the 
essential control remained on William Penn's lines till 
the Revolution swept away the separateness of Pennsyl- 
vania, and merged the colonies into the Federation of the 



288 WILLIAM PENN 

United States. If the advice of the Pennsylvanian 
Friends had been followed, it is believed that that war, 
due again to the Tory Imperialism of British politicians, 
might have been avoided. But the foolish raid on tea- 
chests in Boston harbour threw that hope away. 

It will be well to conduct the story of the Founder's 
Indian policy further, though it is not (happily) part of his 
biography. 

There was nothing original about Penn's way of land 
purchase. It was already the established practice on the 
Delaware and in the other colonies. But it was the 
honesty and friendliness with which it was done that made 
all the difference. Penn did not make the Indians drunk, 
nor cheat them with false maps or false weights, nor kill 
them nor steal from them, nor ignore any claim for owner- 
ship. Unfortunately, his descendants and the Scotch- 
Irish colonists were unscrupulous, and caused the two 
Indian wars of the colonial period. So long as James 
Logan lived, that is, till 175 1, he managed the Indians 
on his old master's lines. 

But before that the seeds of trouble had been sown. 
Thomas Penn, the son of the founder, and the active 
Governor of the Province, desired in 1737 to sell and develop 
the hereditary lands of the Minisink Indians, a branch of the 
Delawares, north of the junction of the Lehigh River with 
the Delaware. There was said to be an old agreement made 
by William Penn which gave him land extending north 
from the limit of previous ownership as much as a man 
could walk in a day and a half. This was a well under- 
stood standard. An ordinary group of whites and Indians 
walked through the brush, stopped for lunch, clambered 
over creeks, and did their twenty miles through the forest 
in a day. This would have taken them to the intended 
place where the rivers met. But Thomas Penn wanted 
to sell land north of this ; on which settlers indeed already 
squatted. He had abandoned Quakerism and all his 
father's idealism. He decided to cheat. Two athletes 




u.v>4i;c-J«i 



■ -J 



INDIAN WALK MONUMENT AT WRIGHTSTOWN. BUCKS CO., 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

The stones are placed at the spot where the Indian Walk of September 19. 1737. began. 

(See page 28Pi) 



FURTHER HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA 289 

were trained, a path was cut beforehand, boats were 
ready at the fords, horses carried food and camp utensils. 
They covered sixty miles ; and then they drew a line slanting 
still further north. So much for cleverness. The 
Indians, whose ancestral home was there, did not move. 
The Quaker Assembly refused to help the Governor to 
move them. So he brought in the Minisinks' overlords, 
the terrible Iroquois of New York. They, corrupted, and 
flattered by consultation, told their dependents or 
subjects that they had no right to make treaties at all, 
and sent them off westwards, in 1742. They left their 
lands, cherishing wrath in their hearts. Other oppres- 
sions followed ; and in 1754, the proprietors bought 
nearly the whole of Western Pennsylvania, not from 
them but from the Iroquois. The French were there 
to promise aid and fan their ancient anger ; and 
when Braddock was defeated by the French at Fort 
Du Ouesne, the frontiers of Pennsylvania flamed for the first 
time in war. It was over the question of supplies for 
this war that the attempt to exclude Friends from the 
legislature led to their resignation in a body in 1756. 

They were now free to take up their proper work of 
peace. " The Friendly Association for gaining and 
preserving peace with the Indians by pacific measures " 
was formed, and the requisite money was subscribed, far 
in excess of war taxes. The Governor and his Council 
offered, instead of the Indian presents customary in 
time of peace, rewards for male and female Indian scalps. 
But now conferences began. The northern Delawares 
under their great chief Tedyuscung, and supported by 
Israel Pemberton and a good company of Friends, made 
many speeches. They were at Easton, on " Walking 
Purchase " land. " This very land," and he stamped 
his foot, " was taken from me by fraud." Another 
conference was held next year, Tedyuscung agreeing on 
condition that Friends were present. Through their 
help he insisted on the presence of a shorthand clerk, and 

1? 



290 WILLIAM PENN 

chose for that duty the master of the Friends' School. 
A third year they held a still larger conference ; 
Tedyuscung obtained some sort of compensation for the 
Walking Purchase, and other presents from the Friendly 
Association. Similar methods prevailed in the West. 
The Association lent the Assembly money, and goods went 
to the Indians at Pittsburgh. It cost Friends £5,000. 

The " Paxton Boys " were a set of Scotch-Irish 
colonists on the Susquehanna, in the neighbourhood of 
Lancaster. Near them, in 1763, dwelt the remains of a 
tribe of Conestoga Indians, much thinned by European 
vices and diseases, and chiefly women and children. 
These, for no very cogent reason, they massacred, and 
yet remained secure in the support of their neighbours. 
They now threatened the same fate to a band of Indians 
converted by the Moravians, and moved for safety into 
Philadelphia. The Ulstermen marched, several hundred 
strong, and encamped at Germantown, some ten miles 
from the centre of the city. The town flew to arms, 
some young Friends included ; and the Meeting House, 
the day being cold, was used as a rendezvous, and by 
bizarre happening, the guns were stacked in the ministers' 
gallery. No actual force was needed with these heroes. 
Franklin conferred with them, Governor John Penn, the 
grandson of the Founder, promised them rewards for 
Indian scalps, and they bounced back home. 

The reader now has both sides of the shield, and 
material for drawing his own conclusions about the colony.* 



♦ These incidents are in all the histories. They are most ably and 
clearly treated in the books of Isaac Sharpless and Howard M. Jenkins, 
noted in the preface. 



CHAPTER XXII 

The Fords 

During the troubled years recorded early in the last chap- 
ter we must think of William Penn once more going about 
the Court freely and transacting much business with the 
Government offices. The death of William III. and the 
accession of Anne in 1702, made him once more welcome 
in the royal circle ; for Anne, like her sister Mary, did 
not forget her father's friend. On his return from 
America, he was for a while in lodgings at Kensington. 
In 1703 he took a house at Knightsbridge, Hyde Park; 
thence he moved in 1706 out to a house a mile from 
Brentford. Worminghurst had been sold at a good price. 
In 1705 we find him apologising for not being able to write 
much or to write himself, because his hand is affected by 
what he is told is incipient gout. He was then sixty-one 
years old. But we find him writing a little, doing 
prefaces to a few books, issuing More Fruits of Solitude, 
and travelling in the ministry in the West of England. 
We now reach the worst, and happily the last, of 
the money troubles caused by fraud and meanness 
acting upon a generous and trustful disposition. His 
affairs had for many years been in the hands of 
Philip Ford, a Friend of Bristol, as lawyer and land 
agent. This man, who had a good reputation and manner, 
had developed into a first-class rogue. On the psychology 
of an early Quaker rogue one might, at an earlier date, 
have said, 

" And now Robert Browning, you writer of plaj'^s, 
Here is a subject made to your hand." 



292 WILLIAM PENN 

This fraud had had something to do with the chronic 
want of money felt for years. In 1702, Philip Ford 
died. Immediately his widow, Bridget, a terror of a 
woman, though always confined to her bed, and her son 
Philip, who did what she told him, presented her husband's 
astonished employer with an account for £14.000, for 
immediate payment, on pain of losing his whole property 
in Pennsylvania. The reader will know what this would 
feel like, on the top of the financial burdens which were 
already more than he could carry. He had never 
checked Ford's accounts, and had signed in full confidence 
whatever he was asked to sign, by his Quaker man of 
business. When needing money to go to America in 
1699, he unfortunately borrowed £2,800 from Ford, and 
gave' him— avowedly as a mere matter of form— what 
Penn believed to be a mortgage on the colonial property. 
But it was really a deed of sale, so that when he went to 
his province he went in fact to what was no longer his 
own. He had sold it to Ford according to the deed, and 
had it leased back to him at a rental. How the evil 
household at Bristol must have chuckled as they thought 
of their dupe playing at being landlord and Governor, 
and they biding their time. Many payments passed 
through the firm's hands both ways, and Penn, speaking 
from memory and general impressions, thought the £2,800 
had been about repaid, when the account of £14,000 was 

pressed. 

Henry Goldney and Herbert Springett, a relative of 
Guli's, men of legal experience, came to his aid. More 
by good luck than any care on his own part, " through 
Providence, rather than by my carefulness," a complete 
set of accounts was found among his papers by Penn. 
He had actually never opened them. The papers 

revealed that : 

(i) The Fords had charged interest on all their 
advances, but had allowed none on their receipts— a very 
simple form of extortion. 



THE FORDS 293 

(2) They had charged eight per cent, interest, instead 
of the legal six per cent. 

(3) They had charged compound interest, posting it 
up every six months or oftener, even when, on balance, 
they held Penn's money. 

(4) On payments in and out they had charged 
two-and-a-half per cent, commission, instead of the 
usual half per cent., and the swollen interest payments 
were also charged this five-times-too-large agent's com- 
mission. 

(5) When any land was sold by Penn, they took the 
money to themselves, as if the land were theirs. Penn 
sold a lot for £2,000 and sent Ford £615 to liquidate his 
debt. This appears in the account as a loan by Ford to 
Penn of ;^i,385, subject to commission and eight per 
cent, compound interest. 

It transpired on examining the accounts that Ford had 
received £17,859 on account of Penn, and had paid out 
£16,200 ; leaving a net receipt by Ford, commissions apart, 
of £1,659. This he had by the above jerrymandering 
changed to a net sum of £14,000 due to him. The excess 
charges on interest and commission were found to amount 
to £9,697 ; leaving £4,303 of the demands. Penn offered 
to settle it at this sum ; but they refused and relied on 
their deed of sale. To avoid scandal and waste, and in 
accordance with the sound practice of Friends, Penn in 
1705 proposed arbitration, either by Friends or others. 
But this — very naturally — the rogues refused. Penn 
reminded the widow of the words of her husband which had 
been spoken in her presence, about the formal nature of 
the deed of mortgage, now found to be a deed of sale. 
She cared nothing for that, but would have her bond. The 
matter went to Chancery, and of course the deed was 
found to be sound, and a common law action for £2,000 
of " rent " under the " lease " with heavy costs was won 
by the Fords. Thus emboldened, Ford went with a 
constable to Gracechurch Street Meeting and tried to arrest 



294 WILLIAM PENN 

William Penn in the ministers' gallery, during worship. 
They were stopped by Henry Goldney and Herbert 
Springett coming out, and inducing them to wait awhile, 
by promising that he would come to them shortly. He 
did so, and then, on legal and friendly advice, went in 
January, 1708 (new style) into the Fleet prison as a debtor 
rather than suffer villainy to succeed. Thus was one of the 
foremost men of the time lodged in his old age in a 
debtor's prison. 

The feeling roused was great. His lodgings in the 
Old Bailey were comfortable, and he received his Friends 
and held Meetings for Worship. Sidney Godolphin, 
Lord Treasurer, thought the Government might lend him 
£7,000 for the service of the colony, to be repaid in nine 
years. Meantime, young Ford went over to Pennsylvania 
and made a dire and dangerous conjunction with the 
other evil stars. Quarry and David Lloyd. He fomented 
disloyalty, and returned to England threatening dis- 
turbance if the colony were not admitted to be his. He 
circularised the owners of land, threatening them if 
they paid anything to Logan. Evans behaved with 
loyalty and success in opposition to this attack upon his 
employer. The Fords did not stick at petitioning the 
Queen for a new charter, " ordering obedience to 
Governor Philip or to Governor Bridget," mocked Isaac 
Norris in a letter to Logan. But a check came. Lord 
Chancellor Cowper gave a judgment against them on the 
new charter question, and lectured them with extreme 
severity. They began to be afraid. Another fraud was 
found. Ford had credited himself with having paid 
£1,200 into the stock of the Society, whereas he had only 
paid £500. The overcharge, including Ford's way of 
adding interest, amounted to £3,249. This deducted from 
£4,303, left only £1,054 owing. Both sides were now 
willing to settle. Friends, including Thomas Callowhill 
his father-in-law, raised £6,800, for which they took a 
mortgage on the Province, and Ford and his mother 



THE FORDS 295 

accepted this amount of booty as a settlement. Penn's 
legal advisers did it for him, and then obtained his acquies- 
cence for the sake of peace. He left the Old Bailey for 
his home at Brentford in December 1708, after eleven 
months confinement. The courage and calm he had shown 
under these troubles struck everyone. Isaac Norris, 
his chief friend in Philadelphia, writes when over in 
London : " The more he is pressed, the more he rises. 
He seems of a spirit to bear and rub through difficulties ; 
and, as thou observes, his foundation remains." Thomas 
Callowhill writes : " Neither he nor my daughter sinks 
under it, but from the Divine power have supports to 
their spirits." James Logan writes : " One would think 
there was almost a commission granted, as against Job, 
for his trial ; for such an accumulation of adversaries has 
seldom been known to attack a man that so little deserved 
them. It must be confessed that something of it all is 
owing to his easiness and want of caution." " I bless the 
Lord, I am yet upon my rock, a lasting foundation," 
writes Penn. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

Last Days 

In 1709 Penn wrote an account of the Life and Writings 
of Sir Btilsifode Whitlocke, prefixed to Whitlocke's 
' ' Memorials of English Affairs, from the supposed expedition 
of Brute to this Island, to the death of James I." 
Whitlocke was one of the lawyers of the Long Parlia- 
ment and the Commonwealth, who figures largely among 
the sources in Carlyle's Cromwell. He was heavily fined 
at the Restoration, lived a country life in Wiltshire, where 
he wrote this history, and entertained ejected ministers. 
Penn had known him, and from the quotation he gives of 
his views the old Puritan leader had clearly come to 
essential Quakerism. " My religion is the good spirit of 
God in my heart ; I mean, what that has wrought in me 
and for me." After a Friends' meeting at his house, he 
rose up, pulled off his hat and said," This is the everlasting 
gospel I have heard this day — the ancient gospel is again 
preached to them that dwell upon the earth." It is good 
thus to hear of one of the Commonwealth men faithful 
and still learning in evil days. The above is taken from 
§xxxv. in No Cross, no Ctown. In 1711 a volume of 
" Discourses delivered in his own family, by that great 
man. Sir Bulstrode Whitlocke," quite on Friends' lines, 
was published, with an introductory Epistle by William 
Penn. 

In 1709 we hear of another ministerial tour in the 
south and west. In February 1712 (new style) he dic- 
tated a preface to the Journal of John Banks, one of the 

S96 




THE BUST COPIED FROM IVORY MODEL OF WILLIAM PENN, MADE 

FROM MEMORY AFTER HIS DEATH BY SYLVANUS SEVAN. 

(See note page 330-) 



LAST DAYS 297 

original pioneers who came out from Brigham in Cumber- 
land in George Fox's earliest mission. This was his last 
effort in the long labour of authorship. He walked about 
dictating, with cane in hand, useful for marking emphasis, 
and " gave an occasional answer to other matters inter- 
vening" (poor man). Thus his last published words went 
back in gratitude across forty-four years to one who 
had been a father to him " in the light, spirit, grace and 
truth of Christ in the inward parts." 

One is glad to think that two years of happy experience 
of the fruition of his lifelong hopes and labours over the 
sea was granted to William Penn in the evening of his 
life, whilst he still retained all the fulness of his faculties. 
We still hear in his letters of his wish to return to his 
reconciled province ; but we are left to infer that his wife's 
wishes or want of money prevailed. In 1710, at any rate, 
he took a handsome house at Ruscombe, near Twyford, 
Berks. 

The negotiations for the sale to the Crown of the right 
of government in Pennsylvania still dragged on. Penn 
needed money to repay his friendly creditors, and his son 
William was unfit to be Governor. The conflict between 
Quaker ideas on war, and allegiance to the Crown, seemed 
insoluble. Finally, it appeared that he could arrange with 
the Government to provide for the democracy and the 
religious liberty of the colony ; and an agreement for 
the sale of the Governor's rights for £12,000 was made 
with the Lord Treasurer by the summer of 1712. In 
October he was writing to Logan expressing regret that 
Friends in England and America had not been willing to 
incorporate a body of themselves, to buy the Charter 
and rule in his stead. This would have been the right 
course. Under it the colony would have been a true 
democracy, and the sons of WilHam Penn would not have 
been able to give him away, as they did. " But," he 
adds bitterly, " I am not to be heard either in civils or 
spirituals till I am dead." He refers to the " mad. 



298 WILLIAM PENN 

bullying treatment " he had had from his son-in-law 
Aubrey about money matters, his " tempestuous and 
most rude treatment of my wife and self." But before 
this sad letter was finished his pen dropped from his hand 
and he wrote no more letters. He had had one attack of 
what Hannah Penn called his lethargic illness in London 
six months before, from which he had recovered ; but 
this one left him seriously weaker, and a third attack three 
months later left him permanently enfeebled, memory 
gone, intellect clouded and childish, but all his sweetness 
and happiness left, his love to God and man. Contem- 
porary letters and Joseph Besse in his " Life " speak of his 
attacks as apoplexy. Dixon calls it paralysis, and Janney 
seems to favour that view. Once Hannah Penn calls it a 
paralytic disorder, and she also called it his translation ; 
it seemed like being born again a little child. But the 
William Penn we have known closed his career at the end 
of 1712. 

He had already received £1,000 from the Government 
towards payment for his rights as Governor of Pennsyl- 
vania ; but the lawyers held him incapable of signing the 
deeds, and the transaction was never completed ; so 
Penns ruled in Pennsylvania till the Revolution of 1776. 
The negotiation did not affect the ownership of the land, 
only the Government. 

The burden of affairs now fell upon the capable and 
devoted shoulders of Hannah Penn and the faithful 
Logan. They were greatly aided by the increasing pros- 
perity and growing population of the colony after the Peace 
of Utrecht in 1713 ; and by its wilHngness to meet its own 
government charges. The early troubles of the colony 
were a backwash from the European wars of William III. 
and Marlborough, and they ceased when peace was made. 
The two paid off in time the friendly mortgage, and 
maintained the rising young family of Hannah's children. 
William Junr. had sunk into debauchery, and they rarely 
saw him. He deserted his wife and children, who lived at 



LAST DAYS 299 

Ruscombe, and spent his time in continental cities. 
William Penn had very happy times with his young 
children and his grand-children, wandering with them 
about the gardens and the many rooms of the mansion, 
a child again. When he saw his wife writing at her desk 
a vague remembrance of trouble connected with corres- 
pondence and business shaded his expression so she kept 
her writing away from him. Ruscombe she kept up 
because her husband enjoyed it so ; though she would 
gladly have gone into a smaller house to save expense. 
Her sons John and Thomas, afterwards to become the 
wealthy owners of Pennsylvania, she contemplated 
putting as apprentices to a linen-draper and to a 
doctor. But times must have rapidly improved for her 
and Logan. That faithful man, after ten years' service 
at no very fixed salary, was desired in 171 1 to name one. 
He, " considering his master's melancholy circumstances," 
fixed it at only £100 a year for all manner of services 
whatsoever," but said he could only stay two years longer, 
" but " he adds, his employer "was seized with an apoplectic 
fit in less than one year, which tied me down to his business, 
and vastly, as it proved, to my loss." But it cannot 
have been so in the long run, and Logan was able, after- 
wards, as he deserved, to live and die in modest wealth 
and dignity. In remembering the failures among the 
assistants Penn chose, we must not forget the faithful 
young schoolmaster, James Logan. Colonel Quarry died 
in 1712, which must have been a relief to the two 
anxious stewards. It was not settled for some years 
that the surrender to the Government could not he 
carried out ; they both desired that it should. 

Joseph Besse has printed the reports of a Friend who 
visited the invalid, and may have been Henry Goldney, 
or perhaps Joseph Besse himself, told in his modest way.* 
It describes a gradual wearing away of faculty, frequent 
drives to Reading Meeting in the earlier years, and 

* Works, II., p. 151. 



300 WILLIAM PENN 

acceptable ministry, gradually fading, but the spirit 
shining through, always full of the happiness of the con- 
secrated. Thomas Story, over on a religious visit from 
America, visited him in 1714 and records : 

" He was then under the lamentable effects of an apoplectic 
fit, which he had had some time before ; for his memory was 
almost quite lost, and the use of his understanding suspended, so 
that he was not so conversable as formerly, and yet as near the 
truth, in the love of it, as before, wherein appeared the great 
mercy and favour of God, who looks not as man looks ; for 
though to some this accident might look like judgment, and, no 
doubt, his enemies so accounted it, yet it will bear quite another 
interpretation, if it be considered how little time of rest he ever 
had from the importunities of the affairs of others, to the great 
hurt of his own, and suspension of all his enjoyments, till this 
happened to him, by which he was rendered incapable of all 
business, and yet sensible of the enjoyment of truth as at any time 
in all his hfe. When I went to the house, I thought myself strong 
enough to see him in that condition ; but when I entered the room, 
and perceived the great defect of his expressions for want of 
memory, it greatly bowed my spirit under a consideration of the 
uncertainty of all human qualifications, and what the finest of 
men are soon reduced to by a disorder of the organs of that body 
with which the soul is connected and acts during this present 
mode of being. When these are but a little obstructed in their 
various functions, a man of the clearest parts and finest expression 
becomes scarcely inteUigible. Nevertheless, no insanity or 
lunacy at all appeared in his actions ; and his mind was in an 
innocent state, as appeared by his very loving deportment 
to all that came near him ; and that he had still a good sense of 
truth is plain by some very clear sentences he spoke in the life 
and power of truth in an evening meeting we had together there, 
wherein we were greatly comforted ; so that I was ready to think 
this was a sort of sequestration of him from all the concerns of 
this life, which so much oppressed him, not in judgment, but in 
mercy, that he might have rest, and not be oppressed thereby to 
the end." 

We need not linger over this period of peace, the day 
labour done. The invalid took fever in the sixth year of 



LAST DAYS 301 

his decline. Thomas Story, on whom Hannah Penn 
greatly relied, had just gone to Bristol, where her son 
John was apprenticed, and a messenger was too late to 
bring him back in time. William Penn seemed to fall 
asleep between two and three in the morning of the 
30th July, 1718. He was nearly seventy-four. When 
Thomas Story arrived, " a solid time of worship we had 
together, but few words among us for some time ; for 
it was a deep baptizing season." The remains were taken 
to Jordans and laid by the side of GuU, and near Springett 
and the infant children they had lost. Thomas Story 
writes : 

" We had a large meeting, and as the Lord had made choice of 
him in the days of his youth for great and good services — had 
been with him in many dangers and difficulties of various sorts, 
and did not leave him in his last moments — so He was pleased to 
honour this occasion with His blessed presence." 

Messages of reverent sympathy came from the 
General Meeting of Friends in Pennsylvania ; and the 
Indians, on hearing of Onas's death, sent his widow an 
address accompanied by a moving present. It con- 
sisted of materials to form a garment of skins, suitable 
for travelling through a thorny wilderness without her 
guide : a symbol of the path the lonely widow would have 
to travel. Surely no Old Testament prophet ever acted 
a more vivid parable. 

Difficulties indeed at once began. Happily, just before 
his seizure in 1712, he had made a will. The English and 
Irish estates which he had inherited from his father were 
worth about £1,500 a year, and were in 17 12 much the 
most valuable part of his property. Pennsylvania had 
only recently begun to yield a net return. These were 
left to the three children of the prodigal son William — 
Gulielma Maria, Springett, and William. Guli's pro- 
perty, under a settlement executed by her, fell to her son 
William, but he had already wasted and sold the estates 



302 WILLIAM PENN 

in Kent. To Letitia Aubrey and to each of William's 
three children he left ten thousand acres in Pennsylvania, 
to give them an interest in the colony. Out of the colonial 
revenue also, Hannah Penn was to have an annuity 
of £300 a year, and all his personal property in England 
and America, including arrears of rent due. She also was 
sole executrix. Subject to the above claims and to the 
payment of his debts, the broad lands of Pennsylvania 
and Delaware unsold, with all quit-rents, were to be 
divided up among his second family of children, John, 
Thomas, Margaret, Richard and Dennis, who died young, 
in such portions as their mother might direct. The 
Government of Pennsylvania he was at that time on 
the point of selling to the Crown, and he appointed Robert 
Harley, Earl of Oxford, and William, Earl Pawlett, to carry 
the Government on and dispose of it to the Queen or other- 
wise. 

William Penn, Jun., now appeared and claimed as 
heir-at-law to be Governor of Pennsylvania. From that 
disaster, however, the colony was saved. The Earls 
resisted it, but had a doubt about their powers. The 
will omitted to say to whom they were to pay the 
money they might obtain from the sale of the Govern- 
ment. Was it to be regarded as real or as personal 
estate ? A suit in Chancery was instituted, which kept 
the issue pending, as such suits do ; meantime, Hannah 
Penn as executrix was to act as Governor. Two years 
after his father, William died of consumption and 
a ruined constitution somewhere in France ; and as the 
Governorship was not sold to anyone the suit fell through 
and William's son Springett came to an arrangement 
with the heirs. Hannah Penn administered the Province 
as long as her children were minors. She too had an 
attack of paralysis in 1722, but recovered and lived till 
1727. She had been attractive and beloved in the 
colony when she lived there, and to her devotion and 
business ability the province and the family owed much. 



LAST DAYS 303 

She had a hard experience and it is not unfitting that to 
her children came the potential wealth of the estate. 
John, Thomas and Richard became the proprietors. 
They left Friends ; they had none of their father's spirit 
and lofty aims ; they were very ordinary landlords, and their 
Indian policy is, as we saw, not unstained by fraud. Their 
descendants lost the government at the Revolutionary 
War ; and in 1779 the legislature of Pennsylvania vested 
their landed estates also in the Commonwealth. The 
Penns were in the English interest. Their private 
personal estates were reserved to them, their existing quit- 
rents, and £130,000 was to be paid as compensation at the 
end of the war, in testimony to the State's regard for 
its Founder, and to ease the .act of confiscation. But 
the value was on a higher scale altogether. From 178 1 
to 1789 the State received £824,000 from the sale of lands. 
The Penn family approached the British Government 
for compensation when the war was over, and asked for 
£944,800. The committee on claims allowed £500,000,* 
It was finally settled to make posterity pay, and a per- 
petual pension of £4,000 a year was ordered to be paid to 
the representative of William Penn out of the Imperial 
revenue. This pension, under pressure of a Radical 
agitation, was commuted in 1884 for £67,000. 

Reading Monthly Meeting drew up the Testimony 
usual when a " Publick Friend " had died ; and, in 
Friends' phraseology, it seems to me that they were 
much favoured in what they wrote : remembering the 
difficulty of all obituaries. 

" Being a member of our Monthly Meeting at the time of his 
decease, and for some years before, we can do no less, in giving 
the foregoing account, than to say something of the character of 
so worthy a man ; and not only refer to other meetings, where his 
residence was in former times, who are witnesses of the great self- 
denial he underwent in the prime of his youth, and the patience 

* Janney, pp. 549, 55°- 



304 WILLIAM PENN 

with which he bore many a heavy cross ; but think it our duty to 
cast in our mite, to set forth in part his deserved commendation. 

" He was a man of great abilities, of an excellent sweetness 
of disposition ; quick of thought and of ready utterance ; full 
of the qualifications of true discipleship, even love without dis- 
simulation ; as extensive in charity as comprehensive in know- 
ledge, and to whom maUce and ingratitude were utter strangers — 
ready to forgive enemies, and the ungrateful were not excepted. 

" Had not the management of Ills temporal affairs been 
attended with some deficiencies, envy itself would be to seek for 
matter of accusation, and judging in charity, even that part of 
his conduct may be attributed to a pecuUar sublimity of mind. 

" Notwithstanding which, he may, without straining his 
character, be ranked among the learned, good, and great ; 
whose abilities are sufficiently manifested throughout his elaborate 
writings, which are so many lasting monuments of his admired 
qualifications, and are the esteem of learned and judicious men 
among all persuasions. 

" And although in old age, by reason of some shock of a 
violent disease, his intellect was much impaired, yet his sweetness 
and loving disposition surmounted its utmost effects, and remained 
when reason almost failed. 

" In fine, he was learned without vanity ; apt without for- 
wardness ; facetious in conversation, yet weighty and serious — of 
an extraordinary greatness of mind, yet void of the stain of 
ambition ; as free from rigid gravity as he was clear of unseemly 
levity ; a man, a scholar, a friend ; a minister surpassing in 
speculative endowments, whose memorial will be valued by the 
wise and blessed with the just." 

William Penn was alwa3^s beloved of his poor neigh- 
bours ; and his charities at Rickmansworth, Worming- 
hurst, and Pennsbury have left some echoes still. About 
Ruscombe the Parish Registers show that the poor 
christened their children William Penn, Gulielma, and 
composite names made out of Pcnnsylvanian places.* 

Every record and tradition agrees in telling of the 
sweetness and urbanity of his speech and manner, his 

♦ Clarkson, Vol. II., p. 358, 




? s 



D S 



W o 



* 



LAST DAYS 305 

ready wit and bright talk, his easy familiarity with high 
and low. Dean Swift says that " he talked very agree- 
ably and with much spirit "* Dr. Tillotson says he took 
great pleasure in Penn's acquaintance. His helpful way 
with young ministers, and the loving reverence he inspired 
may be found in Thomas Story's Journal. The General 
Meeting of Friends in Pennsylvania say : 

" His behaviour was sweet and engaging, and his con- 
descension great even to the weakest and meanest ; affable and of 
easy access ; tender to every person and thing that had simplicity 
of truth or honesty for a foundation."! 

What was the standing and position of William Penn 
among Friends after the death of George Fox ? He was 
the ablest and most distinguished living Quaker. Did 
he become the recognised leader ? In the first place no 
actual recognised leader was wanted, or was possible. 
The modesty and selflessness of George Fox had kept 
him from assuming anything like an official leadership. 
But a central personality of great influence there was 
bound to be. George Whitehead became the central 
figure at the headquarters of the Society in London. He 
drew up documents, and guided the Yearly Meeting and 
the Meeting for Sufferings and Morning Meeting. The 
relation between him and William Penn was not unlike 
the relation between James the brother of the Lord, head 
of the Church at Jerusalem, and Paul the traveller and 
the adventurer, the scholar and the author of Epistles, 
the man born of high citizenship, who had studied at the 
feet of Gamaliel, but who was not always approved by 
the chiefest apostles. There is an odd element of 
heredity in the parallel also. For James held this post 
at Jerusalem because he was the eldest man akin to Jesus. 
This is the usual way with religions in the East, and was 

* Noble, quoted by Clarkson and Janney, 
t Janney, p. 570. 

20 



3o6 WILLIAM PENN 

followed by the election of members of our Lord's and 
James's family after his death, even as late as the time 
of Trajan.* In the same kind of way Thomas Lower 
and William Mead, who acted constantly with George 
Whitehead at headquarters, were the husbands of 
George Fox's step-daughters, Mary and Sarah Fell. 
This is not much more than embroidering fancy. These 
excellent men did not always sympathise with William 
Penn's adventures and difficulties. They did not like his 
going to Court and mixing with statesmen, and offered 
criticism of the usual mild Quaker type, saying less than it 
means. Timid spirits also would not care to identify the 
Society absolutely with a man under suspicion of Jacobitism. 
William Mead for some reason objected to Penn's preface 
being printed with George Fox's Journal, and as he would 
not yield, he was finally overruled : but it is not unlikely 
that the Fell sisters and their husbands were with 
William Mead in this view.t One notes a certain 
restraint and constraint in Margaret Rous' s reference in a 
letter to her mother Margaret Fox, in March, 1699 : 

" William Penn is in town and great crowding after him. I 
believe there is little alteration in him or others, but much as they 
were when you was here." 

In June, 1699, she writes to her mother : 

" We hope if William Penn be brought to condemn that which 
he hath been so far wrong in (to the hurt of many), though but in 
part, that things vvill go better among Friends, and Truth come 
up in its ancient purity over the false wrong spirit which hath so 
much prevailed to its dishonour and hurt, which the truly honest 
will be right glad of."t 

The biographer may well wish Margaret had been more 
explicit. But, plainly there was serious disapproval 
behind, on behalf of the family. We have seen it appearing 

* Lindsay, " The Church and the Ministry in the Early Centuries," 
p. 120, note. 

t " Margaret Fox," by Helen G. Crosfield, pp. 197, 230, 231. 



LAST DAYS 307 

when Penn was in retirement between 1691-3, and again 
in David Lloyd's time, later. On the whole it says much 
for every one that after the death of George Fox 
personal diihculties seem to have been so slight among 
his successors. There is nothing on Penn's side referring 
to the difference at all. 

We are told that William Penn always insisted on 
taking the lowest seat in the row of ministers, particularly 
preferring to put poor men above him. I am not sure 
that this practice, not unheard of to-day, is to be wholly 
commended. There are other available forms of modesty. 

Can we wonder that the mechanism of Penn's intellect 
was worn out at sixty-eight ? It had endured and done 
much. Religious exercises had been carried on all his 
life from childhood with a fervour we vainly hope to recall 
nowadays. Under such strong and taxing exercise of 
the nerves he had been perpetually preaching ; and 
preaching not history nor mere edification ; but every 
time he had been the voice of an Inward Power. Doubt- 
less the Inward Power gives its vehicle strength for the 
occasion ; but it is fatiguing in the end to the instrument. 
Then his enormous output of books and pamphlets, 
largely of the nature of preaching, must have been costly 
to heart and brain. Anxieties about money, and about 
the action of an unfriendly government, and about the 
present and future of his colony, must have told upon 
him. Bereavement had been his full portion. His 
beloved wife and his son Springett's loss had rent his 
spirit, and he had seen George Fox, Isaac Penington 
and Robert Barclay to their rest. 

The inside of prisons was his home for some years in 
all : — The Tower, Newgate, the Old Bailey, lodgings 
in hiding. It was not exhilarating to live in such places. 
Many had been the enemies who had shot at him — 
informers like Fuller — sectaries like Keith or Bugg or 
Rogers — demagogues like David Lloyd — plotters like 



3o8 WILLIAM PENN 

Quarry — rogues like the Fords — countless polemical 
divines. Then his troubles with his father in early years, 
and his son in his age, were causes of bitter suffering. 
On the top of these he had a vast volume of business at 
all times, and the care of the Church, and of all those 
suffering under persecution, for whom he was the active 
champion in the years before the Toleration Act. No 
wonder that the strong well-made instrument was 
finally worn out, and that, as with Ruskin, a period of 
leisure from striving closed the turbulent years. 

It is not easy for us to realise the very keen religious 
life of William Penn and his type of Friend. The con- 
sciousness of the presence of God was with them with an 
insistence to which our age is a stranger. It was not, 
I feel sure, a mere fago^i de purler for William Penn's 
letters to be prefaced and concluded with aspirations for 
his correspondents' spiritual welfare. At home his house- 
hold met three times daily for family worship. Is there 
a Quaker household to-day where this would not be felt 
to be burdensome, to be a bore in fact ? In how many of 
our households do we have family worship or reading 
twice a day ? Only in a few somewhat old established 
homes does that practice continue. Bible Reading even 
once a day is not quite universal. No cure is to be found 
by establishing such functions under a sense of duty or 
sacrifice. That would be to put the consequence before 
the cause, the dead form before the living spirit. No one 
can justly blame another for this weakening of the 
religious sense ; it is " in the air." But it is well for us 
carefully to cherish and diligently to practise such faculty 
of perception of Divine things as remains to us, and to 
live in the light we have. It would carry us too far to 
try to analyse the causes of the prevailing religious 
indifference. But as to the fact there is a great con- 
sensus of experience. It would be wholly impossible 
to raise a religious movement of any kind in Cumberland 



LAST DAYS 309 

or Westmorland to-day, by preaching for three hours on 
Pardshaw Crag or Fir Bank Fell. 

The name and fame of William Penn have grown in 
the years since his death. Burke's eloquent tribute and 
Bancroft's strong panegyric may be read in the closing 
pages of Janney. 

" This," says Bancroft, " is the praise of William Penn, that, 
in an age which had seen a popular revolution shipwreck popular 
liberty among selfish factions, which had seen Hugh Peters and 
Henry Vane perish by the hangman's cord and the axe ; in an 
age when Sidney nourished the pride of patriotism rather than 
the sentiment of philanthropy, when Russell stood for the Hberties 
of his order, and not for new enfranchisements, and Shaftesbury 
and Locke thought government should rest on property — Penn 
did not despair of humanity, and though all history and experience 
denied the sovereignty of the people, dared to cherish the noble 
idea of man's capacity for self-government." 

" His name was safely cherished as a household word in the 
cottages of Wales and Ireland, and among the peasantry of 
Germany ; and not a tenant of a wigwam, from the sea to the 
Susquehanna, doubted his integrity. 

" His fame is now wide as the world ; he is one of the few 
who have gained abiding glory." 

Not on this note, however, would we close the Life of 
one who never betrayed any sensitiveness to fame. 
Quakerism is native to high adventure ; it must never 
play for safety. We shall not choose the path of plodding 
imitation, nor popularity's primrose way, if we have 
caught in these pages the spirit of one of those heroes, of 
Prometheus' ancient breed, who, defying lesser gods, win 
from Principalities and Powers the soul's enfranchisement, 
and warm and light the earth with the fire that has cost 
them dear. 



Appendix 

NOTE ON MACAULAY 

William Penn has been the object of certain attacks 
and slanders, both during his life and since. That a man 
so gentle and so attractive, who spent his life for his 
fellows, and never did an evil deed to another, should be 
so subject, does not speak well for human nature. Men 
allow partisanship to obscure personality. Penn, in his 
lifelong fight for toleration came into conflict with the 
Anglican party, and his living Quaker teaching made 
current theology feel cold and lifeless, and denied many 
propositions it contained. This was enough to make 
him enemies in an age of Revolution. 

Most of the attacks upon him centre round his friend- 
ship with James II. The Catholic and the Quaker were 
both persecuted, and the naval friendship between the 
Duke of York and Admiral Penn was not unnaturally 
kept up between Penn's son and the King who was his 
guardian. William Penn's activities at the court of the 
Catholic King were for the sake of Toleration pure and 
simple. He was there to save the victims of persecution. 
That was no excuse in the eyes of the Anglican party, 
who were against Toleration, and it was cheap and easy 
to doubt his motive and to dub him a Catholic. Jesuits 
were known or believed to assume disguises, was it not 
probable, nay, almost certain that Penn was a Jesuit ? 
The story about confounding Saumur, where Penn 
was educated under the Protestant Moses Amyraut, 
with S. Omer the Jesuit College has been alluded to. 
Then in the plots of the Jacobites after the Revolution, 
the worldly mind could not understand that Penn was 



NOTE ON MACAULAY 3" 

the last man to advocate an armed invasion from France 
to restore the late King, and there were not wanting spies 
and informers and unprincipled hangers on at S. 
Germains who would say that Penn advocated such an 
attempt.* And the enemies of James could not admit 
that he had any friends who were not bad men ; so the 
existence of his creditable friendship with a man of high 
character could not be tolerated by partisans like Bishop 
Burnet, Sir James Macintosh, and Lord Macaulay. So 
the most audacious and improbable fabrications were 
resorted to.f 

It seems hardly worth while at this date to go over 
again the elaborate defence of Penn against the charges 
in Lord Macaulay' s History. This has already been done 
with careful completeness by previous biographers ; 
and the matter cannot be argued in proper historical 
fashion, except at considerable length, and with long 
quotations from authorities. 

The first defender of William Penn was the late 
Right Hon. W. E. Forster, M.P., in 1848, shortly after the 
appearance of Macaulay' s first two volumes. A single 
volume edition of Clarkson's Life was then brought 
out, with a preface by W. E. Forster, replying to 
Macaulay. 

In W. Hepworth Dixon's " Historical Biography " 
of 185 1 is a well written extra chapter on " The Macaulay 
Charges," containing further research, but only covering 
Macaulay's Vols. I. and II., all then out. 

John Paget, Barrister-at-Law, brought out " A New 
Examen," a crucial attack in a quite small book upon 
Macaulay's inaccuracies concerning Penn and several 
other subjects. In 1858, the Penn portion was printed 
separately. This is perhaps the most clear and cogent 
of all the replies. 

• For the memorandum of the spies Williamson and Plunkett, in 
Nairne's Papers, see Clarkson II., pp. 378-81. 

t For Burnet, see Clarkson, Vol. II., Chap. XV., pp. 370-377- 



312 WILLIAM PENN 

Janney (1851) devotes his Chapter XXII. to a 
refutation of Macaulay's charges in his earlier volumes, 
and a supplementary chapter to those in the third and 
fourth volumes. The earlier part is based on Forster 
and Dixon, the latter part is fresh. 

The reader who cannot consult any of these books, 
may like just to know what the accusations were, and 
what the kind of reply. 

Macaulay accuses Penn of collecting from the parents 
of the schoolgirls of Taunton a heavy ransom for their 
pardon for the offence of making a banner for Monmouth 
in his rebellion. The ransom was to go to the Queen's 
maids of honour. It is, however, clear that the man 
asked to do this job was a certain " George Penne," a 
pardon broker. 

Macaulay sneers at Penn for his presence at the 
execution of Cornish and Elizabeth Gaunt after the same 
rebellion. He was, however, there with their friends 
as a sympathiser, and able afterwards to defend Cornish's 
behaviour at the time. 

Macaulay accuses him of trying, on the King's account, 
to bribe a Dissenter named Kiffin with the office of 
Alderman. It appears that Kiffin, on his own initiative, 
asked Penn to explain to the King that he did not wish 
to accept it. 

Macaulay accuses Penn of helping the King to bully 
the Fellows of Magdalen and to induce them to yield. 
Penn acted throughout for the Fellows and at their 
request ; told the King he was in the wrong, and was at 
much pains to prevent their expulsion. Any contrary 
view is founded on an anonymous letter said to be by 
Penn, but disowned by him, and on a joke twisted out 
of its meaning. 

Macaulay says that Friends looked coldly on Penn, and 
treated him with obloquy when he was acting at Court 
as the friend of the persecuted. The Society records and 
the narrative of this book show that broadly this is baseless. 



NOTE ON MACAULAY 313 

Macaulay says Penn went to Holland in 1687 to try 
to obtain the support of William of Orange to the Declara- 
tion of Indulgence. What happened is narrated in the 
text, and is wholly creditable. 

The other charges concern Jacobite plottings suffi- 
ciently referred to in the text and above. 

No man's memory ever had a more complete vindi- 
cation. The reputation of Macaulay as a reliable his- 
torian has faded greatly in sixty years. He never 
admitted his errors about Penn, though he lived till 1859, 
His references to George Fox are contemptuous and con- 
temptible. He hated Friends. His only connection 
with them was that his mother was born a Friend, and 
that the Wighams and other leading Friends were against 
him on the occasion of his defeat for Edinburgh, which was 
the great blow in his political life, long resented by him. 
This might strengthen any anti-Quaker predisposition 
which his evangelical training and his temperament may 
have given him. But, primarily, for him no friend of 
James's could be a good man. Macaulay' s is a Whig 
history. * 



* The criticisms of Burnet, who thought Penn was a Roman Catholic, 
are refuted by Clarkson, Chap. XX. 



Bibliography 

BIOGRAPHIES. 

1. An Account of the x^uthgr's Life. By Joseph Besse. 

In Vol. I. of Collected Works of W. Penn. 1726. And 
in " Everyman " edition. 

2. LaViedeGuillaumePenn. Par Jean de Marsillac. 2 vols. 

Paris, 1 79 1. 

3. Memoirs of the Private and Public Life of William 

Penn. By Thomas Clarkson, M.A. 2 vols. Lond., 
1813 ; Phila., 1814 ; Dover, N.H., 1820 ; i vol., 
Manchester, 1849. 

4. William Penn. An Historical Biography. By William 

Hepworth Dixon. Lond., 1851, 1852, 1856. Abbrevi- 
ated as History of William Penn. London, 1872. 

5. The Life of William Penn, with Selections from his 

Correspondence and Autobiography. By Samuel M. 
Janney. 2 vols. Phila., 1851, 1852. i vol., Phila., 
1882, and other dates. 

6. William Penn, the Founder of Pennsylvania. By Dr. 

John Stoughton. Lond., 1882. 

7. The Family of William Penn. Bv Howard M. Jenkins. 

Phila., 1899. 

8. Penns and Peningtons of the Seventeenth Century. 

By Maria Webb. London, 1867, 1891. 

9. Dictionary of National Biography (Lond)., Vol. XLIV. 

(1895). Article on William Penn, by J. M. Rigg. 

10. "The True William Penn." By S. G. Fisher, Phila., 

1900 {lucus a non lucendo). 

11. Quaker and Courtier : The Life of William Penn. 

Mrs. Colquhoun Grant. A handsome illustrated volume, 
interesting, but full of errors. Lond., 1907. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 315 

OTHER BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, ARTICLES AND 
PAMPHLETS, UNDER AUTHORS' NAMES. 

Edmund Rack. A Sketch in " Caspipina's Letters." Vol. IL 

Bath, 1777. 
Priscilla Wakefield. (A brief Memoir for the Young.) 

Lond., 1816. 
M. L. Weems. Phila., 1822, 1836. 
Mary Hughes (late Robson). (Brief Memoir for the Young.) 

Lond., 1822. 
Anon. No. 21 in Select Biographies. Lond., 1822. 
Anon. (Brief). Edin., 1826. 
Anon. In " Robertson's Classics." Edin., 1828. 
Job R. Tyson. Phila., 1830. 

B. H. Draper. (Life and Maxims. Brief.) Lond. c. 1836. 
John Frost. Phila., 1839. 

Enoch Lewis, in Friends' Library, Vol. V. Phila., 1841. 
Anon. In Knight's " Cabinet Portrait Gallery of British 

Worthies." Vol. XL Lond., 1846. 
George E. Ellis. In Sparkes's " American Biography." 

Vol. XII. Boston, 1847. 
Joseph Barker. Lond., 1847. 
Anon. Boston, Mass., 1848. 

Anon. For the Young, illustrated, Phila., 1849. 
Jacob Post. Lond., 1850. 
Epsilon (John Lury). Southampton, 1853. 
L. Vulliemin. In French. Paris, 1855. 
James M. Brown in " Primitive Christianity Reviewed." Va., 

1857- 
John Paget. The new Examen. An Inquiry into Macaulay's 
charges. (Edin. and Lond.) 1858. 

C. Vincens. In French. Paris, 1877. 

Thomas P. Cope. " Passages from Life and Writings." Phila., 

1882. 
Robert J. Burdette. N.Y., 1882. 
J. P. McCaskey. Phila., 1882. 
Jane Budge. Lond., 1884. 

Fernando Linderberg. In Danish. Kolding, 1887. 
William J. Buck. (A large book). (" William Penn in 

America") PJiila. 1888. 



3i6 WILLIAM PENN 

W, H. Summers. Hertford, 1890. 

Inazo Nitobe (translator). In Japanese. Tokyo, 1895. 

Allen C. Thomas. Phila., 1895, 1896. 

Frances E. Cooke. Lond., 1899. 

George Hodges. Boston, 1901. 

Augustus C. Buell. N.Y. and Lond., 1904. (Hostile and 

erroneous). 
Frederick Sessions. Lond., 1905. 
Lucy B. Roberts. In " Quaker Biographies," Vol. I. Phila., 

1909. 
Separate issue in tract series, " Friends Ancient and 

Modern." Lond. and N.Y., 1910. 
Osmond Airy. In " Encyclopaedia Britannica." 1911. 
Edith L. Elias. In " In Stewart Times," Lond., 1911. 
Rupert S. Holland. N.Y., 1915. 

WORKS. 

A Collection of the Works of William Penn. 2 vols, folio. 

1726. Anon., but by Joseph Besse. 
Select Works of William Penn. 1771, in royal folio. 1782 (in 

5 vols., octavo). 1825 (in 3 vols.) 
Index to Works of Wm. Penn, by " Philalethes " (Henry 

Portsmouth), c. 1730. 
Selections from the Works of William Penn. By Isaac 

Sharpless. Lond., 1910. 

RECENT REPRINTS. 

The Peace of Europe : The Fruits of Solitude : and Other 

Writings. By William Penn. Everyman's Library, 

No. 724. Lond., 1915. 
Sandy Foundation Shaken (1688). Reprinted by British and 

Foreign Unitarian Assoc, London, 1888. 
No Cross, No Crown (1682). Lond., 1846, 1896, 1902. 
Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims (1693). With 

Introduction by Edmund Gosse. Lond., 1901, 1903. 

Essex House Press, Lond., 1901. New York and 

Boston, 1903. With Introduction by John Clifford. 

Lond., 1905. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 317 

An Essay Towards the Present and Future Peace of 
Europe (1693). With Foreword by Joseph Bevan 
Braithwaite (pamphlet). Gloucester, 1915. 

Trial of William Penn and William Mead. (1670). Lond., 
1908. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Thomas Budd. Good Order Established, Phila., 1685 ; New 

York, 1865; Cleveland, O., 1902. 
Gabriel Thomas. Historical and Geographical Account of 

Pennsylvania. Lond., 1698 ; New York, 1848 ; 

Cleveland, O., 1903. 
Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, from 

1826 onwards, particularly Vol. III., Part 2 (1836) and 

Vols. IX., X., Penn-Logan Correspondence. 
Robert Proud. History of Pennsylvania. (2 vols.) Phila. 

1797-8. 
Samuel Hazard. Register of Pennsylvania. 16 vols. Phila., 

1828-36. 

Annals of Pennsylvania, 1609-1682. Phila., 1850. 

John F. Watson. Annals of Philadelphia. Phila., 1830; 

Historical Tales. Phila., 1833. 
Benjamin Ferris. History of the Original Settlements on the 

Delaware. Wilmington, Del, 1846. 
Howard M. Jenkins. Pennsylvania, Colonial and Federal. 

3 vols. Phila., 1903. 
Isaac Sharpless. Quakers in the American Colonies. Ed. by 

Rufus M. Jones. Book V., Pennsylvania, Lond., 1911. 

A Quaker Experiment in Government, Phila., 1898. 

The Quakers in the Revolution, Phila., 1899. 

Allen C. Thomas. History of Pennsylvania. Boston, Mass., 

1913- 
Agnes Repplier. Philadelphia, the Place and the People. 

New York. 1898. 
S. F. HoTCHKiN. Penn's Greene Country Towne. Phila., 1903. 
E. Robins Pennell and Joseph Pennell. Our Philadelphia. 

Phila. and Lond., 1914. 
Isaac Sharpless. Friends in Pubhc Life, Lend., 1916. 



Chronology 



1644 14th October — Birth of William Penn. 

1655 Removal to Macroom, Ireland. 

1660 To Christchurch, Oxford. Preaching of Thomas Loe. 

1662 Expelled from Oxford — Beaten by his father — Goes to 

Paris, Saumur, Italy. 
1664 Returns Home — At Lincoln's Inn. 

1666 To Ireland — Clerk of the Cheque at Kinsale. 

1667 Becomes a Friend at Cork — Short imprisonment. 
Letter to the Earl of Orrery, 

Return to England — Turned out of doors. 

1668 Began to preach. 

Truth Exalted. 

The Guide Mistaken. 

Controversy with Vincent. 

The Sandy Foundation Shaken. 

Imprisoned in the Tower. 

1669 No Cross, No Crown. 

Letter to Lord Arlington. 

Innocency with Her Open Face. 

Released from the Tower — To Ireland. 

1670 Letter of Love to the Young Convinced. 

Return to England — Second Conventicle Act. 

Trial with Wm. Mead for preaching in Gracechurch St. 

The People's Ancient and Just Liberties Asserted. 

Death of Admiral Penn, i6th Sept. 

Dispute with Ives. 

Letter to the Vice Chancellor, Oxford 

1671 In Newgate. 

Truth Rescued from Imposture. 

Winter in Bucks. 

A Seasonable Caveat against Popery. 

The Great Case of Liberty of Conscience. 

A Serious Apology for Quakers. 

Short Visit to Holland and Germany. 
318 



CHRONOLOGY 319 

1672 Marriage to Gulielma Maria Springett. 
Residence at Rickmansworth begins 
First Declaration of Indulgence. 

The Spirit of Truth Vindicated. 

Neiv Witnesses proved Old Heretics. 

Plain Dealing with a Traducing Anabaptist. 

A Winding Sheet for Controversie Ended. 

Quakerism a New Nickname for Old Christianity. 

1673 Declaration of Indulgence withdrawn. Test Act. 

The Invalidity of John Faldo's Vindication. 

A Return to John Faldo's Reply. 

Wisdom Justified of her Children. 

The Christian Quaker. 

Reason against Railing and Truth against Fiction. 

The Spirit of Alexander the Coppersmith lately 

revived, now justly rebuked. 
Judas and the Jews combined against Christ and 

His Followers. 

1674 Counterfeit Christian Detected. 

Urim and Thummim. 

A Just Rebuke to one and twenty Learned and 

Reverend Divines {so called.) 
Epistles in Latin to the Senates and People of Embden 

and Dantzic on Persecution. 

1675 A Treatise on Oaths. 

England's Present Interest Discovered. 

The Continued Cry of the Oppressed for Justice. 

Five Letters to Richard Baxter. 

1676 Saul Smitten to the Ground. 

The Skirmisher Defeated. 

Becomes a proprietor of West New Jersey. 

1677 Removal to Worminghurst. 
Travels in Holland and Germany. 

Four Epistles to Christians on the Continent, trans- 
lated into Dutch and German. 
Algernon Sidney returns from exile. 

1678 Penn gives evidence before Committee on Penal Laws. 
The Popish Plot Agitation begins (Aug.) 

Brief Answer to a False and Foolish Libel. 

An Epistle to the Children of Light 



320 WILLIAM PENN 

1679 Pension Parliament of 1661 dissolved (Jan.) 

An Address to Protestants. 

Guildford candidature of Algernon Sidney. 

First Short Parliament (March to May) passed the Habeas 
Corpus Act and read the Exclusion Bill twice. 

Bramber candidature of Algernon Sidney. [Parliament. 

England's Great Interest in the Choice of a new 

1680. Second Short Parliament (October, 1680, — January, 1681.) 

One Project for the Good of England. 

Death of Princess EUzabeth of the Rhine. 

Death of Isaac Penington (8th October). [(June). 

Penn petitions the Government for a grant in America 

1681 Collapse of the Popish Plot. 

A Brief Examination of Liberty Spiritual. 

Charter for Pennsylvania signed (14th March). 

Some Account of the Province of Pennsylvania. 

Fundamental Constitution of Pennsylvania. 

1682 Victory of the King and Duke. 

Second and larger edition of No Cross, No Crown. 

Death of his Mother. 

Letter to his Wife and Children. 

Arrival in Pennsylvania (October) . 

Frame of Government. 

Founding of Philadelphia. 

1683 Execution of Algernon Sidney. 

Letter to the Free Society of Traders. 

Great Treaty of Shackamaxon. 

1684 Return to England (October). 

1685 Accession of James II. Penn at Court. 
Monmouth's Rebellion. 

Liberation of 1,300 Friends. 

Fiction Found Out. 

Defence of the Duke of Birmingham's Book. 

-Further Account of Pennsylvania. 



1686 A Persuasive to Toleration to Church Dissenters. 

Penn's embassage on Toleration to William of Orange. 

1687 Second Declaration of Indulgence. 

Good Advice to the Church of England, Roman 

Catholic and Protestant Dissenter. 
King's attack on Magdalen College, Oxford. 



CHRONOLOGY 321 

1688 Declaration of Indulgence to be read in Churches. 

Letter to W. Poppleton. Letters on the Penal Laws. 

Trial of the Seven Bishops. 

Flight of James II. Revolution. 

Deputy Governor Blackwell appointed in Pennsylvania. 

1689 Penn arrested and examined three times during this year 
Toleration Act. [and the next. 

1690 Deaths of Robert Barclay and John Bumyeat. 

1691 Death of George Fox (Januory). 
Penn goes into retirement (January). 

Prefaces to Barclay's and Bumyeat' s Works. 

Deputy Governor Blackwell resigns. Succeeded by 
Thomas Lloyd and Markham. 

1692 Pennsylvania annexed by the Crown (March). 
Just Measures. 

Key, etc. 

New Athenians no Nolle Bereans. 

Separation and Disownment of George Keith. Europe. 

1693 Essay towards the Present and Future Peace of 

Some Fruits of Solitude in Reflections ana Maxims. 
Appears again in pubUc (late autumn.) 

1694 Death of Guli Penn. (February). 
Pennsylvania restored to Penn (August). 
Travels in Holland and Germany printed. 

Preface to George Fox's Journal, reprinted as Rise 

and Progress of the Society of Friends. 
Travels in the Ministry. 
End of Government hostility. 

1695 Reply to a nameless answer to W. Penn's " Key." 

1696 Marriage to Hannah Callowhill (February) . 
Death of his son Springett. 

Primitive Christianity Revived. 

More Work for George Keith. 

1697 Visits Peter the Great at Deptford. 
Removes from Worminghurst to Bristol. 

1698 Travels in the Ministry in Ireland. 

The Quaker a Christian. 

Gospel Truths. 

Defence against the Bishop of Cork. 

Testimony to the Truth of God. 

21 



322 WILLIAM PENN 

1699 A Just Censure of Francis Bugg's Address. 

An Account ofGulielma Penn and of Springett Penn 

Epistle of Farewell to Friends. 

Fruits of a Father's Love (published in T726). 

Second Visit to Pennsylvania. 
James Logan accompanies him. 

1701 Returns to England. 

1702 Accession of Queen Anne. 

In Lodgings at Kensington, and then in a house at 
Knightsbndge. 

More Fruits of Solitude. 

On Occasional Conformity. 

Death of Philip Ford. Troubles with his widow begin. 
1704 Wm. Penn, Jun., and Deputy Governor Evans go to 
Pennsylvania. 
Unauthorised attack on Penn by David Lloyd. 
1705-8 Lawsuit with the Fords. 

1706 Removed to Brentford. 

1707 Assembly attack Evans and Logan. 

1708 Penn in the Fleet Prison, January-December. 

1709 Gookin becomes Deputy. Penn travels in the ministry. 
Life of Sir Bulstrode Whitlocke. 

1710 Assembly of Pennsylvania makes full reconciliation with 

the Governor. His long letter to them. 

Removal to Ruscombe. \ 

Preface to Journal of John Banks. { 

1712 Penn's active life over. Attacks of paralysis. ^ 
Assembly puts heavy tax on import of negroes, removed 

by Home Government. ; 

1717 Governor Keith in Pennsylvania. j 

1718 Death of William Penn. j 



Index 



Address to Protestants, 125. 

Amsterdam, 107, 108, 109. 

Amusements of the godless, 48. 

Amyraut, Moses, 23, 310. 

Anne, Queen, 291. 

Apology for Himself, 167. 

Aubrey, Letitia, 302. 

Aubrey, Wm., 298. 

Arlington, Lord. 41, 50. 

Arran, Lord, 49. 

Assembly of Pennsylvania, Const) 
tution, 140; Christian, 141 ; 
First Meeting, 161 ; Second, 163 ; 
Impeaches Moore, 215 ; Quarrels 
with Blackvvell, 217 ; Grants 
tax, 222 ; Argument with 
Fletcher, 225 ; Proposed New 
Frame, 226 ; 255 ; Rejects Bill 
for Marriage of negroes, 261 ; 
Taxes importation of negroes, 
262 ; Difficulties with, 262 ; 
War revenue, 263 ; Their power, 
264 ; Their greediness, 265 ; 
Their poverty, 267 ; Quarrels, 
270 ; Reaction in favour of 
Penn, 271 ; Attacks Logan and 
Evans, 274 ; Remonstrance, 274 ; 
Quarrelsome, 275 ; New Election 
275 ; Provides Revenue, 282 ; 
Taxes importation of negroes, 
282 ; Permanent Quaker 

majority, 284 ; Friends resigned 
from, 284 ; Refuses to help 
Thomas Penn, 289. 

Baltimore, Lord, 129, 161, 162, 164. 

Bancroft, 309. 

Banks, John, 296. 

Barbadoes, 260. 

Barclay's Apology, 46, 113. 

Barclay, Robert, Gov. of West N.J., 
105 ; In Holland and Germany, 
107, ; Death, 192 ; Preface, 198. 

Baxter, Richard. 94. 



Berkeley, Lord, 100, loi. 
Bishop of London, 43, 44. 
Blackwell, John, Lt.-Governor, 216, 

217. 
Blasphemy Bill, 240. 
Bloody Assize, 179. 
Boyle, Roger, 27. 
Braddock, 289. 
Bramber, 123. 
Brentford, 291. 
Bristol, 235, 237, 240. 
Buckingham, Duke of, 117; His 

Book on Religion, 173, 190. 
Burnet, 310. 
Bugg, Francis, 247. 
Burlington, N.J., 103. 
Burnet, Bishop, 180. 
Burnyeat, John, 192 ; Preface, 198. 
Bushel, 49, 50, 56. 
Bylhnge, Edward, loi. 

Cabal Government, 50. 
Callowhill, Thomas, 294. 
Capital Punishment, 131, 285. 
Carolinas, Constitution of, 143, 266. 
Carteret, Sir George, 100, 102, 105. 
Cashel, 243. 

Catholics, Still Persecuted, 189. 
Charles II., on Blasphemy, 42, G3. 
Charter of Privileges, 263. 
Chester, Pa., 155, 161, 284. 
Chigwell School, 19. 
Christian Quaker, 81. 
Clement of Alexandria, 82. 
Coale, Benjamin. 247. 
Coale, Josiah, loi. 
Committee on Trade and Planta- 
tions, 129, 265, 274. 
Conestoga Indians, 290. 
Connecticut, 266. 



323 



324 



WILLIAM PENN 



Conventicle Act, 50, 57. 
Cork, Bishop of, 243 ; Reply to, 244. 
Cornish, Henry, 179, 312. 
Cowper, Lord Chancellor, 294. 
Ccninterfeit Christian Detected, 87. 
Crisp, Stephen, 88. 

Danby, 119. 

Dantzig, 109. 

Declaration of Indulgence, 79 ; 

(Second), 182, 184. 
Defence of the D. of Buckingham' s 

Book, 173. 
De Labadie, 76, no. 
Delaware State, 132, 164, 171 ; 

Secession, 217, 264, 284. 
Dialogue Betiveen a Christian and a 

Quaker, 80. 
Dublin, 241. 

Easton, 289. 

Elisabeth of the Rhine, 1 09-1 12. 

Ellwood, Thomas, 67, 68 ; Admira- 
tion for Guli Springett, 69, 70; 
Account of Newgate in his 
Autobiography, 72. 73, 74, 231. 

England's Great Interest, 121. 

England's Present Interest Con- 
sidered, 78, 96. 

Essay Towards the Peace of Europe, 
201. 

Evans, John, 269, 270 ; False Alarm, 
271 ; Powder Money, 272 ; 
Refused to try Logan, 272 ; His 
Dismissal, 274. 

Everyman's Library, 201. 206. 

Faldo, John, 80. 

Faiiiilism, by Henry Halliwell, 80. 
Farewell Sermon, 254. 
Fell family, 306. 
Fen wick, John, loi. 
Fiction Found Out, 178. 
Five Mile Act, 72. 
Fleet Prison, 294. 

Fletcher, Colonel, 193, 222, 224, 226. 
Fords, The, 268, 291-4. 
Forster, W. E., 310. 
Formalism, 253. 
Fothergill, Dr. John, 284. 
Fox's Journal, 46 ; Preface to, 
231. 



Fox, George, In Prison at Worcester, 

95 ; In Holland, 107 ; Death of. 

191 ; Funeral, 192 ; Character 

Sketch, 232. 
Frame of Government, 137, 141 : 

New Frame, 226, 262. 
Friendly Association (Indians), 289, 

290. 
Friends Orthodox Christians, 45. 
Friends.in Gaol, 115. 
Fruits of a Father's Love, 249. 
Fuller, William, 193. I94- 

Gaunt, Elizabeth, 179. 312. 
Gentile Divinity, 82. 
Germantown, 162, 290. 
Godolphin, Sidney, 294. 
Goldney, Henry, 292, 294, 299. 
Good Advice to the Church of 

England, 182. 
Gookin, Governor, 275, 283. 
Gospel Truths, 24 1. 
Gracechurch Street Meeting, 51, 293. 
Guildford Election, 121. 

Hamilton, Andrew, 264, 267, 269. 
" Hat Honour," 32, 52, 53, 54, 56, 92- 
Hicks, Thomas, 79. 80 to 88. 
Hill, Richard, 272, 276, 283. 
Historic and Inward Christ, 89, 90. 
Holland and Germany, 107. 
Holy Experiment. Summary of, 

285-288. 
Holy War, The, 50. 
Hough, Dr., 183. 
Huntley M.S., 21, 27, 33. 

Immortality in Ancient Philoso- 
phers, 84. 

Indians, Purchase from, 104 ; 
Liquor, 104 ; at Philadelphia, 
155 ; Treaty, 157, 214 ; 263 ; 
265 ; Under Logan, 288 ; Under 
Thos. Penn, 288 ; War, 289, 290 ; 
Message on Death of Penn, 301. 

Informers, 126. 

Innocency with her Open Face, 44, 45. 

Invalidity of John Faldo's Vindi- 
cation, 80. 

Inward and Historic Christ, 90. 

Ireland, Visit to, 241. 

Iroquois, 289. 



INDEX 



325 



James, Duke of York, afterwards 

James II. Admiral, 25, 100; 

Supports the Charter, 128 ; 

Friendship with Perm, 170; 

Catholic Tendencies, 178. 
Jasper, Margaret, Lady Penn. 14, 15. 
Jenkins, Howard M., 13, 237, 290. 
Jennings, Samuel, 219. 
Jesuit, 309. 
Jordans, 64, 301. 

Judas and the Jews Combined, 93. 
Juries, Rights of, 50. 
Justification, 86. 
Just Rebuke to One and Twenty Learned 

and Reverend Divines, 80 
Just Measures, 199. 



Keith, George, 88 ; In Holland 
and Germany, 107 ; Separation, 
218, 239. 

Keith, Sir William, 283. 

Keithian Friends, 261, 287. 

Kensington, 291. 

Key, 200. 

Kiffin, 34, 312. 

Kinsale, 26. 

Knightsbridge, 291. 



Lawton, Charlewood, 175-177. 
Liberation of Irish Friends, 49. 
Liberty oj Conscience, The Great 

Case oJ, 75. 
Light, The, 81, 85. 
Lloyd, David, 257, 268, 270, 271, 

274, 275, 276, 283, 294. 
Lloyd, Thomas, 165, 197, 215, 216, 

217, 256. 
Locke, John, 21, 142, 144, 174, 195. 
Loe, Thomas, at Cork, 19 ; at 

Oxford, 21 ; at Cork, 28. 
Logan, James, 255, 261, 267, 271 ; 

Impeached, 272, 275, 284, 295, 

298, 299. 
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Penn's 

Address to, 49. 
Lords of Trade and Plantations, v. 

Committee. 
Love or Luff, John, 91. 
Lower, Thomas, 196, 274, 306. 
Lowther, Anthony and Margaret, 27. 



M.\CAULAV, 310, 313. 
Mackintosh, 311. 
Macrooin, 17, 19. 
Magdalen College, 183, 311. 
Markham, William, 132, 165, 214, 

217, 222, 227, 257. 
Maryland, 266. 
Maryland Boundary v. Baltimore, 

Lord. 
Mason and Dixon's Line, 171. 
Mead, William, Trial of 50, 52, 53, 

54, 55 ; Indictment, 51 ; Trial, 

56, 57. 95. 271, 275, 306. 
Melksham, 234. 
Minisink Indians, 288, 289, 
Moore, Nicholas, 215. 
More Fruits of Solitude, 291. 
More Work for George Keith, 238. 

National Meeting in Dublin, 49. 
New Athenians No Noble Bereans, 

199. 
New Castle, 154. 
Newgate, 54, 56, 71-75- 
New Jersey, 100, 266. 
No Cross no Crown, 45, 46 ; 

written in the Tower in 1668, 47, 

48, 58. 
Norris, Isaac, 274, 276, 294, 295. 

Gates, Titus, 120. 

Oath in Pennsylvania, 269, 270, 

284. 
Old Bailey, 294-5. 
Oldmixon, quoted, 282. 
One Project for the Good of England, 

123. 
Ormonde, Duke of, 26. 
Oxford, Earl of, 302. 

Paget, 311. 
Paralysis, 298. 
Parker, Bishop, 183. 
Pastorius, F. D., 162, 260. 
Paulet, Earl of, 302. 
Paxton Boys, 290. 
Pemberton, Israel, 289. 
Penington, Mary, 64, 66. 
Penington, Isaac, 63, 64, 65, 66. 
Penington, Alderman, 65. 
Penn, Giles, 13. 



326 



WILLIAM PENN 



Penn, Guli, 144, 164 ; Death, 229 ; 

Visits abroad, 230. 
Penn, Hannah Callowhill, 237, 238, 

2q8. 302. 
Penn, John, 299, 301, 303. (son), 
Penn, John, 290 (grandson). 
Penn, Lady, 14. 
Penn, Margaret, see Lowther. 
Penn, Springett, illness and death, 

235. 236. 
Penn, Thomas, 288, 299, 303- 
Penn, Win. the Admiral, 14, ; at 
Jamaica, 17 ; In Ireland, 18 ; 
Commander under Duke of 
York, 25 ; Letter to, 30 ; Inter- 
view, 33 ; Illness, 43 ; Death, 
58 ; Last sayings of, 59 ; Charac- 
ter, 61 ; Property, 61. 
Penn, Wm., Jun., 236, 268, 270; 
His Return, 273, 297, 298, 301, 
302. 
Penn, William, the Founder, Birth, 
15; Childish Vision, 20; at 
Christchurch 21 ; Expelled, 21 ; 
at Paris and Saumur, 23 ; 
Spiritual Conflict, 24, 26 ; His 
Learning, 25 ; Autobiographical 
fragment, 28 ; A Quaker, 32 ; 
In Prison, 32 ; Expelled from 
home, 34 ; His Works, 34 ; 
In the Tower. 41 ; Released, 45 ; 
In Ireland, 49 ; A Leader, 49 ; 
Trial, 50, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56. 57 : 
Letter to his father, 51; Indict- 
ment, 51; Imprisonment, 57; 
Release, 58 ; His account of 
the Trial, 60 ; Public Controv- 
ersy, 62 ; at Oxford, 62 ; Letter 
to the Vice-Chancellor, 62 ; 
At Penn in Bucks, 63, 64 ; 
Courtship, 67 ; In London, 71 ; 
Taken to the Tower, 71 ; Sent 
to Newgate, 72 ; Report of the 
Trial, 72 ; Release, 75 ; In 
Holland and Germany. 75 ; 
Letter to Dr. Hoesbert, 76 ; 
at Hcrwerdcn, 76 ; Return to 
Chalfont, 77 ; Marriage, 77 ; 
Controversy with Thos. Hicks, 
E 79 ; Letter to Ludovic Muggle- 
ton, 79 ; Connection with N. J., 
loi ; Writes Constitution for it, 
103 ; In Holland and Germany, 
107; In High Politics, 115, 
et seq.; Addresses Parliamentary 
Committee, 119 ; Guildford 



Election, 121 ; Bramber Election 
123 ; Writes Letter to the Chil- 
dren of Light, 124 ; Writes 
Prefaces to Statistical Records of 
Sutferings, 126 ; Writes Circular 
on his Colony, 133 ; Death of his 
mother, 137 ; Writes Frame of 
Government, 137; Letter to wife 
and children, 145 ; Sails to 
Pennsylvania, 152 ; Farewell 
Letter to Colonists, 165; Cour- 
tier, 167-185 : Defends Bucking- 
ham, 173 ; to the Hague, 180 ; 
On Declaration of Indulgence, 
182 ; In retirement, 193 ; Writes 
Epistle to Friends, 194. ^96; 
Liberated, 223, 228 ; Government 
restored. 224 ; Compromise with 
Government, 224; Ministry, 233 ; 
To Pennsylvania, 249, 252 ; Frees 
Slaves, 261 ; Returns to save 
Province, 265 ; Tries to sell to 
Government, 272, 297 ; Writes 
Letter to Assembly, 276 ; In Old 
Bailey, 294 ; Authorship, 296 ; 
Stroke, 298 ; Mental weakness, 
299; Death, 301 ; Will, io\ ; His 
standing, 305 : His critics, 306 ; 
Strain of his life, 307. 
Pennsbury, 163, 257, 304. 
Pennsylvania, Born, 127 ; Charter 
signed, 130; Anglican Chaplain, 
130; Its name, 130; annexed to 
New York, 193; Faction. 213; 
Happiness, 284 ; Size, 284, 285. 

Pennsylvania Pilgrim, 261. 
Pension ParUament Dissolved, 119- 
Pepys, 15, 16, 25, 26, 37, 40, 61. 
Perrot, John, 9i-93- 
Persecution Described, 97, 1 72 ; 

Relieved, 173. 
Persuasive to Moderation, 174. 
Peter the Great, 239, 240. 
Petition against Oaths, 234. 
Philadelphia, Planned, 136 ; Visited, 

155 ; Plan, 156 ; Size, 267, 283. 
Plain Dealing with a Traducing 

A nahaptist, 80. 
Popish Plot, 120. 
Popple. 175, 197. 
Presbyterians, 286. 
Preston, Mrs., 155. 
Preston, Lord, 195. 
Primitive Christianity Revived, 238. 



INDEX 



327 



Princess Elisabeth of the Rhine, 76, 
109. 

Proprietary Governments, 266. 
Public Grammar School, 217. 

Quaker a Christian, 241, 
Quakerism on the Continent, 113. 
Quakerism no Christianity, by 

John Faldo. 80, 
Quakerism a New Nickname for Old 

Christianity, 80. 
Quarry, Col., 227, 257, 267, 269, 

273, 287, 294, 299. 

Reaction in Governor's Favour, 271. 

Reading, 299. 

Reason against Railing, 86. 

Religion in Youth, 22, 29. 

Remonstrance of Assemblj', 274. 

Restoration Drama, 47. 

Revenue Difficulties, 262, 270 ; 

Loyalty, 271. 
Revolution, 185. 
Rhode Island, 266. 
Rickmansworth, 77, 94, 102, 304. 
Rights of Juries, 50. 
Rise and Progress, 231. 
Robinson, Sir John, 41. 
Rodes, Sir John, 249. 
Rotterdam, 108. 
Rous, Margaret, 306. 
Ruscombe, 297, 304. 

Sale to Crown attempted, 297. 

Salee, 14. 

Salem, N. J., 102, 272. 

Sanday, Dr., 91. 

Sandy Foundation Shaken, 40. 

Saumur, 23, 310, 

Seasonable Caveat against Popery, A . 

63- 
Separation from the World, 253. 
Serious Apology for Quakers, 75. 
Seven Bishops, Trial, 185. 
Seven Years War, 284, 287. 
Shackamaxon, Treaty, at, 157. 
Shaftesbury, 117, 120. 
Shangarry, 18 ; Lawsuit, 27 ; 

Unprofitable, 187. 
Sidney, Algernon, 23, 117, 124; 

Letter to, 135. 



Sidney. Henry, Lord Romney, 123 ; 

162, 195. 
Slavery, 136, 260, 261, 28^. 
Smith, Aaron, 176. 
Society of Free Traders, Letter to, 

164. 

Socrates, 8^, 84. 

Some Fruits of Solitude, 205. 

Spencer, Robert, Earl of Sunderland, 
22. 

Spirit of Alexander the Coppersmith 

93- 
Spirit of the Hat, 93. 
Spirit of the Quakers Tried, 79. 
Spirit of Truth Vindicated, 79. 
Springett, Lady, 65, 66. 
Springett, Wm., 66. 
Springett, GuUelma Maria, 64, 66 

67. 

Srpingett, Herbert, 292, 294. 

Standard Book of Friends' Practice 
46. 

Starling, Lord Mayor of London ■ji 
60. ^ 

Stillingfleet, 44, 45. 
S. Omer, 178. 

Story, Thomas, 239, 300, 301, 305. 
Stuart, Jane, 112. 
Subliminal Self, 89, 90. 
Sunderland, Earl of, 117, 128. 
Swift, Dean, 305. 

Taunton Schoolgirls, 311. 

Tedyuscung, 289, 90. 

Test Act, 95. 

Testimony to the Truth of God, 247. 

Testimony by Reading M.M., 303. 

Tillotson, 178, 179, 195, 304. 

Toleration Act, 188. , 

Toleration in Pennsylvania, 264. 

Tower of London, 41. 

Treatise on Oaths, 78, 95. 

Treaty of Dover, 63. 

Treaty with Indians, 157. 

Trenchard, Jack, 175. 

Trinity, 39, 40, 45. 

Truth Exalted, 35. 

Truth Rescued from Imposture, 60, 75. 

Turner, Robert, 130, 135, 220. 

Tyranny and Hypocrisy detected, 93. 



328 



WILLIAM PENN 



Universality of the Divine Light, 

62. 
Uritn and Thummin, 80. 

Vanity, Customs and Fashions, 47. 
Vices, 48. 

Vincent, Thomas, 39. 
Vindication, by John Faldo, 80. 
Visitation to the Jews, 233. 

Walking Purchase, 289. 
Wanstead, 19, 44, 58. 
War Tax, 222, 263 ; Effects of, 
267, 286. 



Waterford, 242. 

Webb, Maria, 67. 

West New Jersey, 103, 105. 

Whitehead, George, 39, 88, 199, 274, 

305- 
Whitlocke, Sir Bulstrode, 296. 
Wilcocks beats Evans, 261. 
WilUam of Orange, 180, 311. 
Winding Sheet for Controversy 

Ended, 80. 
Wisdom Justified of Her Children, 80. 
Witchcraft, 163. 
Worminghurst, 102 ; hours at, 144, 

240 ; Sold, 291. 



Headley Brothers, Printers, iB, Devonshire Street E.G. ; and Ashford, Kent. 



NOTES ON ILLUSTRATIONS 



PORTRAITS OF WILLIAM PENN 

Portrait in Armour. {Frontispiece.) 

The late R. Pearsall Smith,* in his interesting notes on 
Penn portraits (MS. in Friends' Reference Library, Devonshire 
House, Bishopsgate, London) says : — " When in Ireland, Penn's 
portrait in armour was painted at the age of twenty-two, when 
he had ' a modish person grown — quite the fine gentleman.' Of 
this there are four painted copies in existence. One belongs 
to Dugald Stuart, Esq., of Tempsford Hall, Bedfordshire, the 
present representative of the descendants of that branch of the 
Penns who inherited his Pennsylvanian interests. A second 
is at the residence of Lord Dumfurlane in Ireland. A third was 
given to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania by the late 
Granville John Penn, Esq., of Stoke Park, Windsor. The fourth 
is at Pennsylvania Castle in the Isle of Portland, on the south 
coast of England, built by the Penns early in the nineteenth 
century and now the property of J. Merrick Head, Esq. From 
internal evidence and the fact of the descent of this pauiting 
through the successive heads of the family for four generations, 
it is highly probable or even certain, that this is the original from 
which the others have been painted." 

Penn's Treaty with the Indians (facing p. i6o.) 

When Benjamin West painted his picture no likeness of Penn 
seems to have been available, and Penn's features bear no resem- 
blance to the authentic Bevan ivory medallion described later. 
Moreover, the artist has painted Penn as an elderly man, whereas 
when the first famous treaty was made with the Indians, he 
was in the prime of life, and very active (see page 157). Mr. 
Joshua Francis Fisher, who wrote a sketch of the private life of 
Penn very justly says : " Mr. West and, I beheve, all the other 
painters who have introduced the early Quakers into their pictures, 
are chargeable with very great mistakes in the costumes which 
they have selected for them ; in many instances giving them hats 

* R, Pearsall Smith's Notes were compiled some years ago, and certain 
changes in ownership have taken place. 

339 



330 NOTES ON ILLUSTRATIONS 

and coats of a form not even invented for half a century after the 
date of the scene they wished to represent on their canvas." 
West probably painted the dresses from his recollections of what 
he had seen worn by the Friends in his early years in Pennsylvania 
about 1730. 

Mr. Pearsall Smith adds that " the other figures in the picture 
are authenticated by tradition. Mrs. Margaret Hill Hilles, 
when a child, was taken by James Logan, Jr., to see the engraving 
of West's picture. Mr. Logan, placing his finger on the figure 
holding the parchment, said, ' that's my father ; and the one 
looking between the other two is Governor Thomas Lloyd. The 
one behind and next to James Logan is Thomas Story, and beyond 
him is Samuel Carpenter. The principal Indian chief is Wingo- 
hocking." In a letter to his brother William West of Derby, 
dated July 12th, 1775, Benjamin West says : " In the group of 
Friends that accompany WilUam Penn, that is the likeness of our 
brother who stands immediately behind Penn, resting on his 
cane." It is not to be concluded that these Friends were 
actually present ; not more than two of them can have been. 

The Bevan Medallion of Penn (facing p. 296). 

Mr. R. Pearsall Smith saw this Penn medallion in 1845 in 
the possession of Paul Bevan, a Friend of Tottenham, the 
grandfather of Alfred Waterhouse, to whom it descended. The 
circumstances of its origin are related in a letter to his corres- 
pondent for thirty years, Henry Home, Lord Kames, by 
Benjamin Franklin : " When Lord Cobham was setting up the 
statues of famous men in his garden at Stowe, he made inquiry 
for a likeness of Penn, but could find none. Sylvanus Bevan, 
a Quaker, who had a great talent for cutting likenesses of persons 
whom he had known, hearing of Lord Cobham's desire, set himself 
to recollect Penn's face, with which he had been well acquainted. 
From his accurate memory he cut this very ivory medallion 
and sent it to Lord Cobham without any letter or information. 
On receiving it, my lord, who had personally known Penn, 
immediately exclaimed, ' Whence came this ? It is William 
Penn himself.' " 

The " Place " Portraits of William and Hannah Penn 
(facing pp. 238 and 241). 

These portraits are by William Place, a Durham artist, and 
were long in the possession of Surtees, the historian of Durham. 
They are now at Blackwell Grange in the possession of Sir 
Henry Havelock Allen. The question has been raised as to 
whether the portrait is that of William Penn's father, but the 
artist only worked during a very few years of Admiral Penn's 



NOTES ON ILLUSTRATIONS 331 

Ufe, and during those years he hved at York, whilst Admiral 
Penn was in London. Copies of these pictures have been 
made for America, and have been placed in Independence Hall 
Philadelphia. 

Portrait of Gulielma Maria Penn. 

The original of this portrait is a painting on glass in the 
possession of the descendants of Henry Swan, of Holmwood, 
Dorking, wlio died in 1769. It was given to him by John 
Townsend, of London, at an unknown date, and along with it 
one of WilUam Penn.— From " Penns and Peninstons " hv 
Maria Webb. ' ^ 

There is considerable divergence of opinion among authorities 
on Penn as to the authenticity of the portrait. A somewhat 
similar portrait of Hannah Middleton Gurney, first engraved in 
1746, is in existence under the title of " The Fair Quakeress." 

In the Friends' Institute Collection in London'^there is an oil 
painting said to be Gulielma Penn in middle Ufe, but there is 
very little evidence as to its genuineness. 

Indian Treaty Belt (facing p. 261). 

Consisting of strings of wampum, the ground white, with 
diagrams of violet-coloured beads. Originally there were' three 
belts which belonged to the Penn family, one being presented 
by Granville John Penn, great grandson of William Penn, to 
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. These belts formed an 
important part in negotiating or carrying out transactions with 
the Indians. " By these means," writes Clarkson, " the Indians 
pledged themselves to live in love with William Penn and his 
children as long as the Sun and Moon should endure." The 
two figures in the centre are evidently intended to represent an 
Indian grasping the hand of friendship of a European. Wampum 
is manufactured from a species of sea-shell. 

Letter of William Penn to Margaret Fox (facing p. 192). 

Lond. 13th II mo., 90 (Jan. 91). 
Dear M. Fox, 

With the dear remembrance of my unfeigned love in 
Christ Jesus, I am to be the teller to you of sorrowful tidings as I 
may caU it in some sense, which is this that thy dear husband 
and my beloved and dear friend, G. Fox, has finished his glorious 
testimony this night about half an hour after nine, being sensible 
to the last breath. O he is gone and left us in the storm that 
is over our heads, surely in great mercy to him, but as an evidence 
to us of sorrow to come. He was as living and firm Fourth Day 



332 NOTES ON ILLUSTRATIONS 

last was a week at Gracechurch Street and this last First Day, 
being the day before yesterday, but complained after meeting 
of being inwardly struck, and lay ever since at H{enry) Gol(dneys), 
where he departed. My soul is deeply affected with this hasty 
great loss ; surely it portends to us great evils to come. A prince 
indeed is fallen in Israel to-day. 

I cannot enlarge, for I shall write to several to-night, and it is 
late. 

The Lord be with thee and thine, and us all. Amen. 

I am thy faithful and affect, friend, 

WM. PENN. 

Present : Ro. Barrow, J. Taylor, J. Vaughton, J. Field, J. 
Butcher, Sam Waldrenfield and myself. G. W(hitehead) and 
S. Cr(isp) were here about two hours since. 

He died as he lived, a lamb, minding the things of God and His 
church to the last in an universal Spirit. 

JoRDANS Meeting House and Burial Ground (facing pp. 95 
and 304). 

It was in 1671 that Jordans was conveyed from a certain 
WiUiam Russell, a Quaker farmer, to Thomas Ellwood and 
others to be used as a burial ground by the Friends. At this 
time Friends had several temporary meeting-houses in the 
neighbourhood. One was at Old Jordans Farm, just above the 
burial ground on the road to Chalfont St. Giles. This farm was 
purchased a few years ago by Friends and enlarged for use as 
a hostel for visitors to the neighbourhood. The present Meeting- 
house was built in 1688. 

In the burial ground very few of the graves have headstones. 
At one time Friends had a strong objection to anything of 
the kind, and it has only been within recent years that the graves 
of William Penn and his family have been thus marked. The 
founder of Pennsylvania lies buried in the same grave as his 
second wife, Hannah Penn, the fair Gulielma Maria {nee Springett) 
lying between it and that of her noble-hearted mother, Mary 
Penington. 



*^| i<Ld^ 



Deacldifled using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing Agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: 



iBBftKEEPER 



PfltrSfcflVAriON TECHNOLOGIES, L P. 
1 1 1 Thomson Park Dnvo 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



j1 



